


Life Is a Risk, but We Will Take It

by fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat



Series: The Phantom Chronicles [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV), The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alec is Alex's idol, Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bobby and Carrie are not related, Carrie is nice, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Julian basically adopted Alex and Reggie, Julie and Flynn are parabatai, Luke is a Blackthorn, M/M, Most of the Blackthorns make a guest appearance in the end, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Reggie Peters Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Spoilers for the Dark Artifices!!, shadowhunters au, they're 18-19, warlock!Caleb, werewolf!Willie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 67,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27594824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat/pseuds/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat
Summary: "You actually play the guitar?" Julie asked as she came up to sit on the other side of the bench."You sound surprised," Luke said with a smile. It wasn't a grin, it wasn't even full of excitement and passion, but it reached his eyes lighting up his whole face. Julie almost felt the need to smile too."Well yeah, I haven't met a lot of Shadowhunters who have... you know, hobbies."***Julie and Flynn go on their travel year to the Los Angeles Institute hoping it will turn out great. Or in Julie's case, at least remotely good. In her defense she didn't expect to become a member of Luke Blackthorn's non-existent band. Then again she didn't expect her life to be threatened from her first day there either.
Relationships: Alex & Carrie Wilson, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Carrie Wilson, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Julie Molina & Flynn & Carrie Wilson, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, minor Flynn/Carrie Wilson
Series: The Phantom Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079396
Comments: 94
Kudos: 236





	1. Entreat Me Not to Leave Thee and All That Jazz

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so, TDA takes place in 2012 and this is set in 2020. Some events from the books will be mentioned, but they won't be that important for the story. The events from Queen of Air and Darkness have transpired, but it's been eight years so everything's been resolved now.  
> Also, I know the Lovelace bloodline had disappeared until recently, but that never happened here.  
> And I should mention again, there are so so many spoilers about The Dark Artifices series!!  
> Enjoy :D

Julie hadn't really realized when the weeks had gone by. Flynn had started talking about their travel year the moment Julie woke up on her eighteenth birthday and she'd proceeded to start making preparations a couple of months later, the day of her own birthday. She would come up to Julie with Institutes from all over the world, throwing books, pictures and generally a lot of infromation at her, trying to find the perfect one for them to go to. Julie had looked through some of it, she really had, but she couldn't retain every little detail so she'd basically trusted Flynn to choose what would be best for them.

She felt a bit guilty she wasn't as much into it as her parabatai and while she was really trying to be, she couldn't get herself to jump around in excitement. If anything, she didn't even want to go on a travel year, at least not anymore. Sure it was recommended, but no one was going to force her to leave the New York Institute. They had plenty of demons in the area, someone had to take care of them, right?

Her dad and brother agreed with Flynn and were constantly giving many solutions to her problem that she pretended not to have thought of. Demons in New York? The Institute has plenty of other Shadowhunters to take care of them, Julie and Flynn's absence wouldn't lead to its crumbling. And really, Julie knew that no matter what excuse she gave, they were going to find a way to 'ease her mind'. She was pretty certain they knew why she was nitpicking Flynn's plans, trying to find a reason to stay back, but they didn't want to say anything about it. Well, her dad had tried, but she didn't want to talk about it.

_Maybe going away for a while will be good for you. A change of scenery, new people..._

Well maybe staying there and sulking around could be good for her too, had they thought about that? Okay, she was probably wrong about that one. That still didn't mean she had to leave though.

Then again Flynn was so excited, she didn't want to ruin it for her. Julie knew if she decided to stay back, Flynn would stay back too no questions asked and she wouldn't even complain. She probably wouldn't even feel bad about it, but Julie would. Flynn had helped her through so much this past year, Julie couldn't take away from her the one thing they'd been looking forward to ever since they were little.

Because it was true, Julie had been looking forward to their travel year just as much as Flynn had. This last year though... Her priorities had changed. And choosing to suddenly get up and leave didn't sound as great.

So, after so much preparation, it was almost confusing how she was finally standing in the middle of the main hall, a few bags around her, ready to leave for Los Angeles. Flynn was standing beside her, putting throwing knives in her jacket, belt and boots. 

"You know I'm sure they have weapons in LA too, you don't need to take all the knives," Julie said looking at her with her arms crossed.

"Girl, they don't have _my_ knives there," Flynn said as she armed herself more and more. "I don't see you taking off your 'bracelets'," she added making air quotes. 

"What? They're for style," Julie defended with a smile passing her hand through her hair.

"Sure, Jules." Flynn rolled her eyes.

"Hey, girls, are you ready to go?" Julie's dad came up to them, her brother following. Carlos had turned fourteen and only recently started getting a few small missions of his own, but he had also joined in in the pep talks and reassured Julie that if any demon breakout were to happen, he was going to take care of it. Julie had just laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Yeah, we are," Julie said, "Flynn was just clearing up the armory."

"And I'm done," Flynn said throwing a seraph blade into one of the bags. "Where's Max? They're waiting for us."

"I just saw him upstairs," Carlos said.

"He's on his way, don't worry. You got everything?" her dad asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." Julie said looking around. "I mean there will be warlocks in LA too, we can always portal back if we've forgotten anyth-"

"Uh no, no," Flynn cut her off, "once we're there, we're there. If you've forgotten something it stays back."

"But I could just-" Julie tried to say, but Flynn stopped her raising a finger in front of her face.

"Nope," she said.

"Okay, fine, I'm sure they have stores in Los Angeles in case we need anything," Julie said and turned to her dad. "I'll miss you," she told him and moved forward wrapping her arms around him.

"Me too," he said, "but I am sure you'll love it there. And you know if you need anything-"

"I know, dad, I know," Julie said quietly and pulled back with a smile. "And you," she said as she turned to Carlos, "I'm leaving you in charge here."

"You don't have to worry about anything, Jules, I totally got this," he said confidently and Julie moved in to hug him too.

"Thank you," she whispered. She didn't want to leave her little brother behind either, but he looked so excited in the prospect of being in charge - or well, 'in charge' - that she'd let it go. He would be fine. He had Max, Rafe and Tavvy to keep him company, those boys had been trying to bring the Institute down for a while now. Who knows, maybe the Los Angeles Institute would be quieter.

"I'm here," Max announced as he rounded up the corner, "I'm ready. Are you ready? We'll miss you here."

"Aww, we'll miss you too, Blue," Flynn said.

"Any last information we need to know about the place?" Julie asked him as she grabbed one of the bags, slinging it over her shoulder.

"I barely remember it, Julie, I was like three or something when we went there. It probably doesn't even look the same anymore. Tavvy wanted to help you out but you said no because 'exploring the city is part of the experience, dude'," he pointed out doing a poor imitation of Flynn's voice.

"That's Flynn talking, I don't know why I'm getting mixed up in it..." Julie said with a sigh.

"I didn't want to get my first impression spoiled by your brother's future parabatai." Flynn looked pointedly at Max as if she made perfect sense.

"Tavvy's family used to run the Institute, right? Before Diana Wrayburn took over," Julie said remembering some of the stuff she'd read along with a few of Tavvy's stories.

"Hey, you read up on the Institute!" Flynn said pleasantly surprised. "I knew you weren't just working on autopilot."

"See? I actually listen to you when you talk sometimes," Julie said with a smirk that made Flynn roll her eyes.

"Fine, I'll keep it in mind," she said and turned back to Max practically vibrating in place. "We're ready, do your thing."

Julie was actually surprised to find herself looking forward to their departure as the young warlock worked on creating a portal. It was mainly that part of her that remembered how much she wanted this, how long her and Flynn had spent talking about traveling somewhere different, meeting new people, seeing new places, maybe fight some more demons... But that was before.

The sparks of a portal forming brought her back to the present just as Flynn turned to look at her. "Ready?" she asked her softly and Julie knew at that moment that she could just say no and Flynn would cancel everything so they could stay back. And maybe part of her was tempted to do so, but for the first time in a while, she decided to listen to that other part. The one that was kind of excited for the new adventure. The one that wanted her to take the risk.

"Ready," she said as she smiled back at her taking her hand.

"Have fun over there," her dad said, "and be careful."

"Where's the fun in that, Ray?" Flynn said her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Julie's dad gave her his signature dad look that always seemed to work somehow, making Julie chuckle. "Don't worry, dad, I'll keep her safe," she said, " _entreat me not to leave thee_ and all that jazz."

"You put the parabatai oath under a whole new light," Flynn said clutching her chest in mock amazement. "Come on, we're gonna be late," she added and pulled her with her as they started walking through the portal. Julie had just enough time to yell a 'bye' before she disappeared through the golden sparks.

The change in the atmosphere was almost too sudden. The walls of the Institute were replaced with a beach, the sun setting in the distance, the waves crushing in the coast. There weren't any people around thankfully - the last thing they needed was some mundane watching them appear out of nowhere - but to be honest, they weren't planning on landing on the beach in the first place.

"This is beautiful," Julie said looking around. The location was far better than what they had back home, who wouldn't want to live by the ocean? Gives a different vibe to fighting demons.

"I know, right?" Flynn said looking back at the ocean. "You know what, I stand by our choice, he's getting better," she added turning towards Julie.

"No, I agree," Julie said, "the Institute is just over there." She pointed on the other side of the road to the building surrounded by stone walls. Max was only eleven, still learning and definitely not the first choice of most Shadowhunters in the New York Institute when it came to transportation. And it was true, Max was young, but he'd been working on portals for a while now with his papa and he'd been getting better and better. Julie and Flynn knew there wasn't an issue of safety and they could just walk the extra distance, Max deserved a chance to help.

They started heading towards the road, carrying their bags with them - which Flynn had filled to the brim with weapons and were harder to carry than they should be. They'd only taken a couple of steps when they heard noise and people shouting. They looked at their right, all the way to the other end of the beach where something moved behind the rocks. 

"Was that-" Julie started to ask just as they noticed a figure running from the Institute with a seraph blade in hand, right towards the commotion.

"Come on," Flynn said as they left their things on the sand and ran after them too. They heard a demon scream as they reached closer and soon enough they found four Shadowhunters on the scene - including the one they'd seen running from the Institute only seconds before -, one firing arrows from a higher position up in the rocks, the other three going at them with their blades.

Julie felt the whip around her wrist unwraping by her side. To be honest, this was not how she thought they'd be welcomed in the LA Institute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My two little headcanons for anyone who cares - Diana gets to run the Institute because she's awesome and Rafael and Tavvy some day become parabatai because they're adorable :p


	2. Sorry About the Demons

Alex pulled one of his daggers back, moving out of the way as ichor splattered all over the ground and the demon disappeared. He spun around stabbing the other creature next to it with the seraph blade on his other hand and ducked just as he heard the otherwise imperceptible sound of an arrow whishing through the air and embedding itself on a demon behind him.

Reggie had found a vantage point up on the rocks, taking out as many of them as he could. Carrie was a few feet away from Alex, seraph blade in hand, demons exploding all around her as she moved gracefully, almost like a dance, in between them.

It still wasn't enough though and they were severely outnumbered. "Where the hell is Luke?" Alex shouted just as another demon burst into flames in front of him only for Luke to appear behind it pulling his seraph blade back.

"You called?" Luke said giving him his usual disarming smile that wasn't enough to make Alex let it go.

"You're late," he answered.

"I got distracted, sorry," Luke said as they turned back to back, instinctively watching out for each other.

"You know I'm all for pursuing your passion, but not if it's going to get us killed," Alex said.

"You're being overdramatic," Luke said and Alex was absolutely sure he was rolling his eyes even with his back turned against him. Growing up with someone will do that to you.

"Focus, boys," Carrie warned as she took a few steps back, closer to where they were standing. Reggie was covering them as much as he could, but they still had their hands full and they were losing ground.

Carrie hissed in pain from something Alex couldn't see, but just as he turned around, a knife came flying going through the demon's empty eye socket, making it stumble back. Carrie took advantage of the distraction, passing her seraph blade through its body and watching it disappear up in flames.

Alex was surprised to see two girls he hadn't seen before running over to them, one of them holding a knife similiar to the one that had saved Carrie, while the other was already lashing her whip towards the demons closer to him and Luke. It wrapped itself around one of their bodies and with a curt nod of her hand it squeezed, making the demon disappear into a cloud of dark smoke, leaving more ichor behind. Alex didn't have time to wonder who they were or why they were there, they were obviously Shadowhunters and that was good enough for him.

He focused back on the fight, taking steps closer to Reggie who had switched his bow for a seraph blade working on the demons that had closed in on him. They were slowly gaining the upper hand with their bigger numbers, but they still had a few of them to take care of. Alex passed his blade through one of the demons and spun around taking the head off another one with his dagger, just as Reggie cut through its body splashing both their gears' with more ichor. 

The body fell down and Alex realized it was quiet. He turned around to see everyone breathing heavily, but no alive demon on sight. He considered that a success.

"Well, hello to you too," the girl with the knives said as she looked at them with a smile. "Didn't expect such a warm welcome."

"Oh, you're from the New York Institute, yes, we've been expecting you!" Reggie smiled recognizing them first. "Hi, I'm Reggie," he said and was about to move in to shake their hands when he realized that he was covered in ichor and maybe he should take a shower first, "Lovelace. That's Carrie Ashdown, Alex Lightwood and Luke Blackthorn," he continued as he introduced everyone. "Sorry about the demons, that wasn't part of the welcome," he added sheepishly.

"Oh no, I enjoyed it," she reassured him. "I'm Flynn Carstairs," she said and looked at the girl with the wild black curly hair prompting her to continue.

"Julie Rosales," she said as if just remembering it.

"Well, we can continue this inside where there are definitely less demon guts around," Alex said. And maybe change out of the ichor covered gear. And take a shower, yes that sounded great actually.

"Yeah, sure, we should just go grab our stuff first, we kind of left everything on the beach when we saw Luke running," Flynn said.

"See? I was in a hurry to get here." Luke turned to Alex with an 'I did nothing wrong' look. Alex gave him his 'I don't take any of your shit' look. Their interactions were pretty much routine by that point.

"We should just be grateful he showed up, remember a couple of weeks ago? Thank the Angel the werewolves were there," Carrie said.

"Yes, I'm sure Alex was very grateful," Luke said nodding his head. Alex head slapped him for good measure.

They started heading back, stopping on the other side of the beach first to help the girls with their discarded stuff. Alex picked up a bag only to weigh him down more than he thought it would. It was open and he could see all the knives, seraph blades and other kinds of weaponry inside.

"You know, we do have weapons here too, you didn't have to carry all that with you," he said as they walked towards the road.

"That's what I told her, but Flynn decided to pack everything on her. And whatever didn't fit went in the bag," Julie said looking pointedly at her friend.

"Wait, how many weapons do you have on you?" Reggie asked looking at Flynn.

"It's just knives," Flynn said with an eye roll as if it was perfectly normal for her to be a walking armory. "Just like fourteen of them..."

"Fourteen?!" Luke said his eyes going comically large.

"I like you," Carrie said playing with her balisong on one hand to emphasize her point.

"Thank you," Flynn said clutching her chest dramatically, "it's nice to be appreaciated," she added and gave a side glance to Julie who just rolled her eyes at her, obviously having had the exact same argument way too many times.

"You've been friends for long?" Alex asked her as Carrie and Flynn started discussing knives while Luke was moving his hands around wildly, explaining something to Reggie. Alex had a pretty good idea of what it was, there weren't many things that could get Luke that passionate.

"Oh wow, Flynn is... You know how there are some people you feel like have always been there? How you don't remember your life without them?" Julie tried to explain.

Alex smiled slightly as he looked at the guys, Reggie nodding at something Luke was saying, not really feeling his excitement, but not wanting to bring him down either. "Yeah, I get it," he said.

Julie noticed his look and smiled back. "Who's your parabatai? You all seem to be in sync with each other," she asked.

Alex's smile faltered a bit, but he didn't let it show. She'd asked a loaded question with a seriously complicated answer. "No one," he said, "none of us have a parabatai, but you know, we've been training together ever since we were little, we've learnt how to move around each other."

"That's nice." Julie smiled not pushing the matter any further. It was enough to make Alex like her, people usually liked to pry even if they didn't really know them. _Why aren't you parabatai? You work so well together! Why didn't you do the ritual while you still had time? You were ready to go for it, what changed?_

"Hey, why were your stuff in the beach now that I think about it?" Alex suddenly realized. They should have portaled in the Institute's gates.

"Oh that," Julie said with a chuckle, "well, Max's calculations were a bit off apparently, but he's still eleven, he's learning. Oh hey, you're a Lightwood, you must know Alec and his family right?"

That was a question Alex was well accustomed to. "I mean who doesn't?" he said with a smile. "But I've mostly seen Rafe around, Max a few times too. Alex and I are like second cousins, we've only met a couple of times when he was here for Rafe..."

"Well then, your nephew is a skilled warlock, he's the one who sent us here," Julie said with a smile as they reached the Institute gates and went through.

"I'm gonna let Diana know that you're here," Carrie said as she started up the stairs.

"And that we're alive," Alex called after her and she gave him a thumbs up behind her back.

"I want to believe that we're better than that at handling low level demons after so long," Luke said as a matter of factly.

"So do I," Alex said with a sigh.

"Hey," Luke said gently as he nudged Alex's shoulder with his own, "we did good."

Alex looked at him and couldn't help the smile spreading on his face. Luke just had an infectious personality that affected everyone around him. "Yeah, okay," he conceded making Luke's face break into his usual grin that could light up an entire room.

"Okay, now that that's over, let's show you your rooms!" Reggie clasped his hands together looking at the girls. "And then probably go take a shower," he added.

"Yeah, that actually sounds like a good idea," Julie said looking down at her clothes who had a few tears and burns. "I liked that shirt," she said with a sigh.

"I'll get you a new one," Flynn said slinging an arm over Julie's shoulders. "I hear they have stores over here in LA..."

"You're not funny," Julie told her, bickering over some issue the boys had no idea about.

"I do my best," Flynn said. "So, rooms, let's go!"

The girls followed Reggie while Luke and Alex headed to go change. Well, Alex headed to go change, Luke was about to go a different way entirely, but Alex grabbed his arm dragging him along. 

"Hey, hey, hey," Luke protested as he begrudgingly went along with him.

"At least change first, ichor is still dripping off your gear," Alex said as they went up the stairs.

"I was going to, I just wanted to finish something," he said.

"Was that something the reason why you didn't realize we were gone?" Alex asked already knowing the answer. Luke was a good Shadowhunter, but there was something that definitely caught his attention more.

"But I did come right on time," he pointed out.

"We're very grateful for that." Alex nodded.

"Hey." Reggie came up to them, "I left the girls to get settled until we all don't look... well, like this," he said gesturing to their appearances.

"Reggie! You're always nicer to me," Luke said and got out of Alex's hold, flinging himself to wrap his arms around Reggie.

"Luke," Reggie said with a grunt at the unexpected contact, which really shouldn't be that unexpected anymore seeing as Luke would fling himself towards any family member or friend on sight. "We're covered in ichor and sand, dude," he said but still wrapped his arms around him as well. 

"That's okay, I still like you," Luke said taking one more second to just stand there and then pulled back. "Okay, I'm gonna go change," he said and headed to his room. Alex couldn't help the fond smile taking over his face as he shook his head.

"Was he just going to write with his gear on?" Reggie asked.

"He was going to finish something, then forget about it and stay like that for the rest of the day," Alex answered.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Reggie said amused.

"I'm not throwing away another carpet because Luke forgot that ichor actually stains," Alex said as they walked to their rooms too.

Reggie laughed. "Don't worry, I'll help," he said as he opened his bedroom door.

"That's not the point, Reg!" Alex said only hearing more laughter as the door closed behind him.

He took a deep breath walking over to his room, but he still couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him.


	3. You're Allowed to Have More Than One Passion, Aren't You?

Julie couldn't sleep. It was past midnight and she was definitely tired, but she couldn't get herself to close her eyes and peacefully lose consciousness. If only there was a rune that would actually make her fall asleep...

She opened her eyes for the millionth time with a groan and looked at the ceiling. She loved to travel, always had, but she hadn't left the Institute in the past year... She felt a bit antsy being in a new environment with new people, away from the comforts and constants of her home.

She eventually decided to get up and get out. She needed to do something to calm her nerves down and lying on a bed wasn't going to cut it. 

She didn't want to bother Flynn, she knew she'd already be fast asleep drooling on her pillow and didn't want to take that away from her. So she opted for exploring the LA Institute instead.

It was true that she'd actually read up on it. Just because she wasn't excited to leave, didn't mean she hadn't done her research just to be ready. So many great people had passed through there, it was just as admirable as their own back in New York. Well, they got to brag a bit more for being the Consul's Institute.

She walked down the hall looking around. She didn't want to accidentally open a bedroom door invading on other people's privacy, but she figured training rooms or the armory would be safe. Maybe she could take her frustrations out on a punching bag, that was a sure way to make her tired.

She had a vague idea of where everything was, Reggie had also tried to explain some stuff earlier, so she climbed down the stairs walking through different hallways hoping to end up in the training room. After passing a lot of doors though without discovering what she was looking for, she had to admit to herself that maybe she'd gotten lost.

"Yeah, okay, that seems about right." She sighed.

She looked around trying to make sense of where she'd ended up and wishing she hadn't left her stele back in her room because any rune would be way more helpful than this. Or maybe she was just hoping that she was back home, in her bed where the rest of her family was and she didn't have to pretend the past didn't bother her.

_Nope, don't go there, make the best out of the situation._

She took a deep breath and decided to go with the flow. Who knew, maybe...

The strumming of a guitar made her stop. A guitar?

She followed the sound, taking a left at the end of the hallway, coming in front of a big window that overlooked the front of the Institute. She could see the beach, the moon illuminating the water, not a disturbance in sight. It was beautiful.

But so was the melody coming from the room on her right. The door was slightly ajar, so Julie moved a bit closer giving it a light push hoping to catch a peek of whoever the resident musician was.

The room was dark, only illuminated by the moonlight coming through the big windows. Julie didn't need a second glance to realize it was a music room, they surprisingly had one too back home, just not as crowded, or messy for that matter. There was a piano in the middle, a drum kit on the right side, a couple guitars, basses and surprisingly none of them seemed old and forgotten.

Her head turned back to the sound, seeing Luke sitting on the window bench. He had a notebook open on the cushion in front of him as he played the same melody again. He stopped, scribbling something in one of the pages and then went back to strumming his guitar, only with a few changes from last time. Was he writing this?

She'd been so mesmerized, it almost caught her off guard when his voice started accompanying the soft melody.

" _Life is a risk, but I will take it_  
 _Close my eyes and jump_  
 _Together, I think that we can make it_  
 _C'mon let's run..."_

He kept playing without singing until Julie accidentally pushed the door a bit further making the hinges creak. Luke immediately stopped and looked at her direction confused to see someone there at that hour.

Julie's first instinct was to profusely apologize. "I'm so sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to creep up on you like that, I just heard the music-"

"Julie, hey," Luke said amused as he put his guitar down, resting against the wall, "it's okay. I'm pretty sure though that you can't hear me from your room..."

"Uh, no, not really," she said as she closed the door behind her and moved inside. "You actually play the guitar?" she asked as she came up to sit on the other side of the bench.

"You sound surprised," Luke said with a smile. It wasn't a grin, it wasn't even full of excitement and passion, but it reached his eyes lighting up his whole face. Julie almost felt the need to smile too.

"Well yeah, I haven't met a lot of Shadowhunters who have... you know, hobbies," she defended. It was true, hunting demons didn't usually allow for much free time for extracurricular activities and most Shadowhunters ended up training even if they had time. Few of them ended up finding something they liked and actually became immersed in it. And Luke didn't seem like he'd just picked up a guitar and started plucking random strings.

Luke laughed at that. "Yeah, okay, that's true," he said. "I come from an artistic family though. Well, my mom and brother mainly, but still."

"You have siblings?" Julie asked softly. She hadn't seen anyone else around the Institute that resembled Luke.

"Seven," he answered casually.

"Seven?!" Julie's eyes widened.

Luke chuckled again. "Yeah, we get that a lot."

"Are they here?"

"Not currently," he said. "One sister is visiting her in-laws with her wife and kids, two brothers and a sister are in Alicante, another brother is in the New York Institute training with his soon to be parabatai and the final brother is trying to make the Shadow World better along with another Rosales girl," he finished with a smirk.

"Oh by the Angel, that's right," she said her hand flying to her forehead, "I forgot you're a Blackthorn, you're Tavvy's brother! I mean you even look alike, what was I thinking..." She chuckled to herself shaking her head.

"He mentioned you and Flynn would be coming over," he said.

Julie had met one of Luke's brothers, Mark, when she was much younger. He'd taken over the Downworlder-Shadowhunter Alliance along with Cristina Rosales after Alec had become Consul. They'd started off from New York, so Julie would usually see him around the Institute, as well as her cousin. She didn't know all of the Rosales family tree, but she'd loved Cristina from the moment they'd met. She was so kind and generous, trying to mend the relations between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, to make sure there was no unfair treatment and all the while she still took time to hang out with ten year old Julie.

Tavvy was a newer addition in the New York Institute these past few months. Him and Rafe had known each other for a long time and they were going to become parabatai soon, so they needed to start training together more and more. He'd talked a bit about his family, the youngest of eight, but Julie hadn't been able to catch everything. There had been too many names, too many stories and she had been too exhausted by the world around her for a while to try and follow. 

"So the last sibling is here? I counted six," Julie said.

Luke's smile fell a bit. "No, she uhm, she died, a long time ago..."

Julie's breath hitched, his words hitting a bit closer to home. "I'm so sorry, Luke, I didn't realize..."

"Julie," he said, his hand reaching to cover her own on the bench, "it's okay. You freak out easily," he added trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't freak out, I'm a Shadowhunter," she said welcoming the change and trying not to pay that much attention to their hands where they were still on top of each other.

Luke grinned again.

"Was that song you were playing before yours?" she asked him curious about his musical tendencies.

"Yes!" Luke perked up again his blue green eyes lighting up at the mention of music. "You liked it? It still needs work, but I think it's finally getting somewhere."

"You're really good," Julie said genuinely impressed with his skills.

"Thanks," he said as his pulled his guitar closer again, his fingers absent mindedly going over the strings. "I mean, it doesn't really matter, does it..."

"What do you mean?" Julie asked confused. He had talent, that much was evident.

"It's not like I get to do anything with it..." He shrugged.

Julie realized what he meant. First and foremost they were Shadowhunters, everything else came after that. No one was going to prohibit them from having interests, but they weren't going to let them follow through with them either.

"Not an avid Shadowhunter, are you?" Julie asked softly.

"It's not that." Luke shook his head as he looked outside and sighed. "I like being a Shadowhunter, helping people, hunting demons, it's a rush. We're doing something good. I just... Sometimes I wish we had the weekends off or something," he said smiling slightly to himself, still not looking at her. "You're allowed to have more than one passion, aren't you?" he added as he turned to look at her, his expression a bit uncertain, as if Julie was going to tell him no.

"Of course you are," she reassured him, leaving no room for disagreement. "You just need to find balance."

Luke breathed a laugh at that. "I'm running a little behind on that," he said, "you saw me today."

"Literally running a little behind," Julie said making them both chuckle.

"I didn't realize the others had already left," he said, "but I was there on time! And then well, you showed up and saved our asses, so thank you for that," he added.

"And I mean if we hadn't seen you running we might not had even realized something was wrong," Julie offered.

"Please tell the others that," Luke said his mouth quirking upwards on one side.

Julie smiled and looked around the room again, her eyes stopping at the piano. "You play any other intruments? Most of these appear to be in good condition."

"Reggie plays the bass and Alex the drums," he explained. "They're not as into it as I am, but they're good and well, you know, you shouldn't punch all your problems and anxieties away until your hands bleed. Music has so much feeling... It's therapeutic."

Julie was hit with the full force of his words. She had come down there with the intention of finding a training room and taking out her frustrations on a punching bag. All of that had gone out the window though the moment she'd heard the guitar, curiosity winning over. 

"You're okay?" Luke suddenly asked her. "The only people awake at this hour are usually me and whoever has to go on patrol."

"I..." Julie started to say, unsure of how to continue. She wasn't really fine. Maybe she should be, a lot of people thought she should be, and sure, she was better, but she didn't think that she would be roaming the Institute halls at night if she was actually fine. "I've been better," she eventually said knowing it would probably lead to more questions from Luke.

He looked at her, giving a short nod and eventually strumming his fingers through the guitar strings again, more melodically this time. "You play anything?" he asked her.

It wasn't the question Julie had expected, but it was definitely a more welcoming one. "Uhm yeah, my mom taught me the piano actually," she said glancing back at it in the middle of the room.

"You any good?" he asked with a smirk looking up at her again.

Julie chuckled. "I was, yeah, I guess I haven't played in a while..." She couldn't really remember when it'd been the last time she'd sat down and gone through any melody. She hadn't felt like going through the motions for a while now.

"You wanna give it a try?" he asked and nodded at the piano. "None of us have really dabbled with it and I'm a firm believer that every instrument needs to be played." He gave her a serious look that made Julie breathe out a laugh.

This was not what she imagined doing her first day, or well night, there. She hadn't been in the mood to play any music, even with a small voice somewhere in the back of her head suggesting it might actually be helpful. She'd decided to shut down that part of her for a while, at first it'd been too painful and then she'd just convinced herself that she didn't care for it as much. Maybe she'd outgrown it, maybe she'd find something else she was into.

Luke on the other hand was desperately looking for balance. He wanted to create more time to fit music in his life without messing the rest of his responsibilities up, but he seemed happy when he played. Lost in his own little world for a while. Maybe Julie could get that too, even for a few seconds. It wasn't going to magically fix everything, but then again a punching bag wouldn't either. At least this was something she secretly craved more.

"Okay," she eventually said looking at the piano and getting up. 

She sat down at the piano bench, her fingers going over the keys, relishing in the familiar feeling. She hadn't played in a while, but she hadn't forgotten everything she'd learned. She could just go through a random melody and be done with it, she knew Luke would be happy either way. This was the first time she was getting back to it after so long though, she felt like she had to do it justice.

Her fingers started going over the familiar melody as if on their own accord. She remembered everything so clear, she might as well had the music sheet in front of her. The chords, the progressions, the lyrics... Before she knew it she'd started singing along. She got lost in the music, giving it all she had after so long, forgetting it was late and that people were asleep upstairs, getting her feelings out. The frustration and pain about everything that had gone wrong that year, everything that had fallen apart after her mom died.

_"And you use your pain_   
_'Cause it makes you you_   
_Though I wish I could hold you through it_   
_I know it's not the same_   
_You got living to do_   
_And I just want you to do it_

_So get up, get out, relight that spark  
You know the rest by heart."_

The more she carried on, the more the lyrics resonated with her, remembering what she was singing about, who she was singing about. And there wasn't just pain there, no. There'd been seventeen years prior to that filled with all kinds of memories, the good, the bad, the happy, the funny... She'd banned herself from going down memory lane so she wouldn't break down, but she'd kept away the good parts too. And so she put them all in the chorus, relishing in the good. Because there'd been so much good all this time.

_"Wake up, wake up if it's all you do_   
_Look out, look inside of you_   
_It's not what you lost_   
_It's what you'll gain raising your voice in the rain_   
_Wake up your dream and make it true_   
_Look out, look inside of you_   
_It's not what you lost_   
_Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark_   
_Wake up."_

She played the last few notes quietly bringing the song to an end. She was breathing heavily and she knew a few tears had escaped her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to move just yet. She hadn't felt like that in so long, hadn't let herself go like that in so long. It was beautiful. It was liberating.

She wiped the tears with a shaky hand, only then remembering that Luke was still in the room. And that she was singing her heart out way past midnight while a lot of people slept upstairs.

"I-I'm sorry, I got carried away," she said, "is the room soundproof by any chance?"

When she got no answer she turned to her left to find Luke looking at her, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging slightly open. 

"You're okay?" he asked him.

"You," he started trying to regain his composure and failing. "You are insanely talented!" he all but shouted.

"Oh," Julie said surprised not really expecting that reaction, "uhm, thanks."

"You just- wow," Luke tried to put his words in order and failed. "Can we- Would you- wow."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Julie asked a small smile making its way on her face.

"Yeah- Yes, I'm fine," he said shaking his head. "Can I show you what I've been working on?"

"Of course," Julie said as she moved closer to the edge of the bench to make space for him. Luke grabbed his notebook and guitar and came to sit down beside her. He put the notebook on the stand.

"Should we turn on the lights?" Julie asked, having difficulty to actually see his notes. His handwriting wasn't helping either.

"Oh, here," he said grabbing his stele from his pocket. That was when Julie noticed the night vision rune on his arm, that explained things a bit better. "May I?" he asked.

Julie extended her arm his way, letting him draw the rune. She looked back at the notebook now able to make out more, his handwriting still making it difficult.

"I know my handwriting's not great," he said.

"I didn't say anything," Julie said.

"You were thinking it."

"Was I though?"

"Julie, I can see it in your eyes," he said making her chuckle. She still felt a bit overwhelmed from before, causing another tear to roll down her face on its own accord. Without saying anything, Luke reached over and brushed it away with his thumb. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to," he said softly.

"No, I want to," she rushed to say. "I think I have for a while." She knew she wasn't making much sense and she wouldn't blame him if he thought she was weird, but he wasn't giving out that vibe. He looked genuinely interested in what she had to say.

"Okay," he said, "so, if you look past the handwriting..."


	4. We Should Form a Band

It was 9 am when the alarm went off, though Reggie had already been awake for at least an hour staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to get up any earlier and have the others asking him if he was okay while sharing concerned looks behind his back they thought he couldn't see. He was far better in his room staring at the ceiling.

With the justified excuse of the alarm though he finally got up and climbed down the stairs. He knew there was no way Luke would be awake for at least another hour since he probably hadn't fallen asleep until way past midnight, but Alex and Carrie could as well be making breakfast in the kitchen.

He decided to make a detour in the training room first, not because he felt bad. No, this was cardio really. Luke didn't like it when they tried to punch their problems away, he diverted everyone to the music room instead. And it wasn't bad actually, if anything they'd become good at what they practised. In between studying, training, a couple of wars and overthrows - mainly when they were younger - killing demons and helping the Downworld wherever they could, they didn't have as much free time as they would have liked. They still managed though.

They were eight when Luke discovered the music room and made everyone's ears bleed with that devilish guitar. Julian of course didn't say no, but tried to turn him towards something quieter which didn't work because once Luke has an idea drilled in his head, no one can change his mind. Emma threatened to break it, but they knew she wasn't actually going to follow through, so Luke carried on uninterrupted. Reggie and Alex weren't technically staying in the Institute at the time, but they were there each day for tutoring with Diana and eventually ended up spending more and more nights as they were growing up. The straining relationships each of them had with their parents hadn't helped either and even though the Blackthorns had been through a lot, they were a close knit family that actually provided a sense of security. Even in a world rid with demons.

Reggie hadn't really talked to his parents in a while. He knew they'd relocated in Idris and he knew they were okay, but that was the extent of his relationship with them. He didn't feel the need to contact them and they remembered they had a son about once every month, so it worked well for both of them. Sometimes he wished things were different, but he still had his family in the Institute, people who had actually been there for him when he needed them.

Julian if anything had been more of a parent to him than his own had. He had no reason to feel responsible for him, he already had to take care of five siblings, one whole Institute, all while making it seem so easy, and Reggie was just some random Shadowhunter kid who was friends with his brother. Julian had no reason to pay attention to him or make sure he was okay or lie to his parents to keep him in the Institute for the night, because Reggie could only take so much shouting, but he did. Julian was a diplomat and as much as Reggie could see that he wanted to go give his parents a piece of his mind, he knew that they could take Reggie back just as easy as they'd allowed him to stay over so many times. So he'd opted for random excuses like studying or training or _they're gonna be parabatai, they need to stay close to each other_ or anything new that came to mind really. There was just something trustworthy in Julian's voice that made it hard to suspect he might be dishonest. So, yes, Reggie's parents pretty much thought he was studying and training way more than he did.

So, after Luke had showed him the music room, Reggie had started messing around with a bass. At first he hadn't really understood what Luke was talking about and how this was supposed to help, but after the first few times he found himself actually wanting to learn how to do this right, it was enough to take his mind off of things and jamming around with Luke, Alex and Bobby was kind of fun. When he actually became good at it though... He realized what Luke had meant all this time. Playing different songs, putting their hearts and souls into it, it somehow made things different. Reggie didn't know if it was just the time spent with the guys or whether music actually spoke to them. Well, it definitely did to Luke, that much was obvious. For him... It was good, it was normal. Grounding.

Yes, demons come running through the night hunting mundanes, Downworlders and Shadowhunters alike and yes they try to send them back where they came from and even though that had been their life ever since forever, it sometimes got overwhelming. But music was a constant. Reggie knew what happened when he picked up the bass and he knew the different chord progressions and he'd learned how to channel the bad feelings into something creative. He'd let his instincts take over, just like in the middle of a fight. He didn't think where to run, whom to cover, how to shoot an arrow. It'd all become muscle memory by now. Covering Alex and Luke and Bo-

Covering Alex and Luke had been ingrained into his head, it was almost like a reflex by that point. Carrie too sometimes, even though they'd first met when she'd joined the Institute three years ago. It was all a matter of practice. Luke had pulled her into the music room too, but she wasn't so much into the instruments as she was into dancing. Her moves were graceful, always following the beat. They could sometimes see it in her fighting, like she was moving to a beat only she could hear. 

Reggie walked into the training room grabbing his bow and quiver, turning at the targets. He could do it with his eyes closed after so long, but having a routine was still comforting at times.

He started shooting the arrows one by one, all hitting center, until he reached the last target. He hadn't even released the arrow when a knife hit dead center. He put the bow down, turning around to see Flynn leaning on the entrance looking at him.

"Do you carry around knives everywhere you go?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Duh," she answered as she walked inside. "You never know when you'll have to slice a demon," she said, "or an apple."

Reggie chuckled. "That's some flawless logic right there," he said. She somehow reminded him of Emma a bit, maybe it was just a Carstairs thing. "Do you know Emma? Carstairs? She lives here too. She's in Alicante now, but she's usually here."

"I did go through the Carstairs family tree when we decided to come here and I think we're something like third cousins on my dad's side?" she said unsure. "I'm not good with these things, but I've never met her no." 

"I think you'd like her, she loves her weapons too..."

"I like her already," Flynn said with a smile he returned.

"You came to train?" he asked her. "Or just show off?" he added with a smirk nodding at the target.

"Not my fault I'm good," she said with a shrug unaffected. "I was actually looking for Julie before breakfast. She's not in her room and I know she didn't just get up before me. She's sleeping, I can feel it in my bones."

"Because you're parabatai?"

"Because I've dragged her out of bed in the morning more than enough times," she replied with a deadpan look.

"Fair enough," Reggie said with a chuckle. "Luke's usually the same way. We know to find him asleep in the music room if he's not in his bed and he definitely doesn't get up before ten unless the Institute's on fire or something. Actually, you know what, maybe not even then."

"You have a music room?" she asked with renowned interest.

"You play something?"

"Not me," she answered looking thoughtful. "Maybe sleep isn't so bad." She shrugged with a smile. "You have a kitchen somewhere around here?"

"Yeah, come on," Reggie said with a smile as he walked towards her letting his bow back to its place.

"You can brood a little more if that's your thing, I can find it on my own," Flynn said.

"I don't brood," Reggie denied. If anything he was always cheerier than the others. Alex was constantly on edge, Luke's mood was a spinning wheel, he went from hyperexcited puppy to sad and lonely and then right back in record time and Carrie was always a bit more distanced. If anything she was the one to brood. Reggie though... He was just happy to be there. Happy to have a place to stay, people who cared about him... Yeah, he was happy.

"Hm, we'll just have to agree to disagree," Flynn said as they started walking together towards the kitchen. "Is someone cooking?" she suddenly changed subject when the smell hit them. Bacon.

"Probably Alex or Carrie," Reggie said hearing the music in the background too.

They entered the kitchen and sure enough, found both of them on the counter, Carrie over the stove with a pan full of bacon, Alex a bit further away whisking something in a bowl. They were both swaying to the beat of the music, moving around each other as if almost dancing. Reggie smiled. Drums had definitely won him and he'd probably deny it if anyone said anything, but Alex had always loved dancing.

Carrie was the first one to realize Flynn and Reggie were standing in the doorway. "Hey, you're finally up," she said.

"It's 9:30," Reggie said even though he'd been awake for a while now.

"We haven't even finished breakfast," Alex sided with Reggie.

"We have things to do and not much time to waste," Carrie said ignoring both of them. "Someone needs to wake Luke up."

"What things?" Flynn asked as Alex moved to pour some of his mix in a pan.

"Briefing with the Downworld leaders in the area. I thought we should divide and conquer since there are six of us now. Show you and Julie around a bit," Carrie answered turning to look at her with a smile.

"Ooh yeah, I'm in," Flynn said excitedly drumming her hands on the table as she sat down. "Whom do I get to meet?"

"You can come with me," Carrie said, "the vampires don't really like the boys, they make too much noise."

"We do not," Alex tried to interject, but he didn't do a good job in sounding believable.

"Sure you don't," Carrie glossed over it and put the bacon on a plate. "Reggie, I'm assuming you're dealing with Caleb?"

"Yeah," he said, "I can take Julie."

"Great, Alex and the grumpy toddler go to the werewolves."

"Ouch!" Alex yelped in pain his hand having slipped and touched the burning stove. Reggie and Carrie both stifled a laugh.

"It's not funny," Alex said passing his hand under the cold running water in the sink.

"It's a little funny," Reggie said still chuckling.

"Why do I get Luke? I can't communicate with him in the mornings."

"You wanna go alone?" Carrie asked with a smirk.

"... No," Alex said in a high pitched voice.

"Great, it's settled then," she said with a grin as she set the plate on the table and sat down.

"I hate all of you so much," Alex muttered as he turned the water off.

"No, you don't," Reggie said as he took a seat beside Flynn.

"Don't talk to me, you betrayed me today, I'm betrayed," Alex said pointing a spatula at Reggie who just smiled shaking his head.

"What's he talking about?" Flynn asked Reggie as Alex went back to the pancakes.

"It's nothing," Reggie said, "just that the werewolves like Alex," he added vaguely leaving it up to Alex to talk to her about his life if he wanted to.

"If you're partnering me with Luke, someone else gets to go get him out of bed. Or the music room floor, wherever he is," Alex said turning a pancake around and putting it on a plate.

"I'll go," Reggie said and got up.

"Oh, bring Julie too if you find her, she likes breakfast," Flynn called after him.

"Sure," Reggie said with a chuckle as he left for the music room thinking he had more chances of finding Luke there, especially after he'd gotten distracted yesterday and had been late to the demon party, rather than his bedroom.

He walked down the hall and over to the other side of the Institute. The music room used to be closer to the bedrooms, but after Luke showed some interest in it and then ended up spending his nights there, Julian, and oh how grateful everyone was, decided they should move all the instruments further away. In retrospect it was a good decision not just for everyone else who wanted quiet, but also the new room was bigger, brighter and Luke could make as much noise as he wanted without bothering anyone. A win win situation.

Reggie took a left and came up to the familiar corridor. He opened the door to his right, knowing he'd probably find Luke curled up on the cushions on the window bench, guitar on the floor beside him, like he had so many times.

What he didn't expect was to find Luke on the floor beside his guitar, still curled up, still asleep, because on the window bench slept Julie. Reggie wasn't sure if he should wake them up or just close the door behind him and leave again. He didn't have to decide though since the hinges on the door creaked as he moved it - they should really do something about that - and Julie stirred awake.

"Five more minutes, Flynn," she murmured.

"Uhm..." Reggie wasn't really sure what to say.

His voice must have registered in Julie though because she opened her eyes and immediately sat up. "Oh, uhm, good morning," she said. 

"Good morning," Reggie said somewhat awkwardly.

"We weren't planning on sleeping here," she said and then rushed to change it. "Not that we were planning anything together! Everyone goes to their room at night!"

"I didn't say anything," Reggie said.

"Because there's nothing to be said," Julie said, pointing a finger at him.

"I was just looking for Luke..."

"He's here," Julie said as if he wouldn't have noticed his friend right in front of her on the floor.

"I can see that," Reggie said not moving yet.

"This is not an awkward situation," Julie continued as if almost trying to believe it herself.

"It's not?" Reggie said.

Luke mumbled something incoherent as he moved around on the floor, his arm falling over his guitar. Both Reggie and Julie chuckled cutting through some of the tension in the air.

"Alex and Carrie made breakfast," he said. "Flynn said you like it."

Julie smiled as she got up, careful not to step over the sleeping Luke on the floor. "Thanks," she said, "and I swear there's an explanation about this."

"You really don't have to freak out," he tried to reassure her.

"Well that's not gonna stop me, is it?"

Reggie smiled as he moved closer to drag Luke with them. He kneeled down beside him and nudged his shoulder. Luke moved his arm away shoving Reggie's hand off, still mumbling incoherent sentences.

"Luke, it's almost 10," Reggie said softly.

"Too early, Reg," Luke mumbled.

"Depends on when you fell asleep," Reggie said amused.

"It was definitely before 5am," Julie interjected with certainty as if that wasn't too late.

"5am?!" Reggie looked at her shocked.

Luke's eyes snapped open at the sound of Julie's voice and he sat up quicker than Reggie had ever seen him react this early in the morning.

"What-" he started to say only to be cut off by Luke.

"Oh my God, you should have heard her last night, Reg, Julie has the voice of an angel," he said grabbing Reggie's arm as if to get his full attention on the matter.

"I wouldn't say-" Julie tried to downplay it, but Luke wasn't going to let it pass.

"No, you should say. You are amazing!"

Julie blushed slightly as she moved a curl out of her face.

"You sing?" Reggie asked her, the pieces starting to fall into place.

"She _**sings**_ ," Luke emphasized the word as much as he could.

"I didn't imagine it was going to be such a big deal," she said.

"Have you heard yourself sing?" Luke asked as if he'd been personally offended by her statement.

"I think you broke him," Reggie said turning to look at Julie.

"And she plays the piano!" Luke kept going as if he hadn't said anything.

"We should form a band," Reggie joked but Luke's eyes shined bright and almost popped out of his head. "I want you to keep that excitement because you're going with Alex to meet the werewolves," he added.

"Third wheeling, got it," Luke said and got up with a groan. "The floor is really uncomfortable."

"This is why you have a bed," Reggie said.

"Yeah, but like, all the way upstairs somewhere." Luke made a vague gesture towards the direction of his room.

"It wouldn't surprise me if you've actually forgotten where your room is."

"You're not funny."

"I liked it," Julie said with a smile, raising a hand from the doorway.

"Thank you, Julie. We're going to the High Warlock of Los Angeles by the way."

"Great," she said, "why exactly?"

"It's just routine," Reggie said with a reassuring smile.

The Downworlder-Shadowhunter Alliance had begun in New York, but it was expanding all around the world, Institutes making great steps in mending relationships between Downworlders and Shadowhunters. There was still a lot to be done, but they were making progress. Once every month they would meet with the Downworld leaders just for a routine briefing, in case there were any issues that needed to be dealt with. Progress had been made, but Downworlders were still reluctant to ask Shadowhunters for help.

They eventually left the music room and went back to the kitchen where the others had already started eating. Alex had put some food on the side for the two of them which they accepted gratefully. He would whine about Luke being a handful in the mornings, but Reggie had never seen Alex push him away when he became clingy or not make sure that both of them got some food into them.

"Hey, girl, where were you?" Flynn asked Julie as she took a seat beside her.

"Sleeping," Julie answered. Neither Luke nor Reggie made a comment on it.

"You're awake?" Alex asked Luke who was inhaling his food.

Luke looked at him confused with his mouth half full. "I think so."

"Okay..." Alex trailed off looking at him suspiciously, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I heard we're meeting with the werewolves," Luke added with a smirk.

"Okay," Alex said with more finality that time and turned back to his food ignoring him.


	5. You Might as Well Be Married

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: implied homophobia from Alex's parents

Alex drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as they waited on a red light. Luke had slouched on the seat beside him, daydreaming about something while looking out the window. He wasn't jumping up and down like he was before, but he was defenitely way more energetic considering the dark bags under his eyes.

The light turned green and Alex turned right.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you grip the steering wheel any harder," Luke said as he turned to look at him.

Alex relaxed his grip, seeing as his knuckles had indeed turned white and tried to shake the nerves. He hated how easy it was for him to start spiraling at any given moment.

"You know, I can go and do the talking and you can just stay in the car," Luke said with a shrug.

"I don't want to stay in the car," Alex said.

"I know, I just thought if you heard yourself saying it out loud you might actually realize it too." Luke smiled at him.

Alex breathed out a laugh. "I know it's stupid," he said, "I just can't help it."

"No one said it's stupid," Luke said, "but if you wanna do something you should. No one's stopping you."

"Well..." Alex trailed off his voice once again going higher.

Luke had lost a lot of people in his life, but he'd essentially grown up in a loving family. He was loved by so many people. Unconditionally. As he should be.

Alex's life had been a little different. His parents loved him, they'd been proud of him, happy that he was a good student and that he was eager to start his training and continue the legacy of the Lightwood name. And then Alec Lightwood kissed Magnus Bane in the Accords Hall right before the Mortal War and Alex was only six and couldn't understand why, but he could see that his parents weren't exactly happy about it. 

And then Alex was eleven and Alec was elected Consul and he was also married to a warlock. Alex definitely didn't cry tears of joy when that happened, no... He wasn't even sure why, or maybe he was but he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't because he still remembered how his parents had reacted five years ago. He couldn't just tell them that he wasn't who they wanted him to be, he couldn't lose his family like that, no. He could just pretend, he'd gotten better at it. 

But then there were Luke, Reggie and Bobby. They were practically growing up together with them being in the Institute all the time. They would stay over, they would train, they would play music, they would talk for hours and it was just... It was freeing.

And then suddenly Alex started finding it harder to pretend. He was itching to tell someone, just to get it out of his chest because hiding for so long, it was unbearable. But it couldn't be his parents, no, he couldn't lose his family. So he turned to Luke.

Alex was fourteen when he came out to Luke. It was late and he was staying over at the Institute - it was so much easier staying at the Institute surrounded by the Blackthorns - and they were in the music room, Luke trying to work some melody out while Alex twirled around a drumstick. He was probably radiating anxiety because Luke had suddenly broke out of his trance - which you know _**never**_ happens - and he'd asked him if he was okay. So Alex had just gone with it and told him he was gay.

He didn't know what he expected, but it definitely wasn't Luke saying 'cool' with that signature smile of his and then turning back to strumming his guitar. Alex had stared at him for a couple of minutes, not exactly sure what had happened, before he'd stopped him and demanded an explanation. Luke was confused because what more was there to be said? 

_Aren't you weirded out or something?_ Alex had asked knowing this couldn't be that simple.

 _No, why?_ Luke had asked again confused.

And then he realized. Luke's family had never told him that he _had_ to be straight. Luke's family had never judged anyone based on whom they liked. His oldest sister was married to a woman, one of his brothers was in a relationship with a guy and a girl, another one of his brothers had just gotten together with a guy... Alex telling him he was gay was probably casual conversation for him.

Alex had definitely cried that night, whether it was from happiness that he'd finally told someone or longing for a family like Luke's... He didn't know. Maybe a bit of both. 

He'd told Reggie and Bobby soon after, getting more positive reactions. He'd been convincing himself that it was going to be a disaster for so long, that he was going to lose his friends, he'd almost been thrown off course with how things had turned out.

Alex was seventeen when he came out to his parents. It hadn't happened the way he wanted it to, but it had happened. They had been fighting about something, Alex couldn't even remember what it was, it didn't matter, but he'd just shouted it out in the end. His parents weren't happy, no. After all this time he had managed to lose his family.

He didn't want to stay in the house, so he'd just left for the Institute in the middle of the night. It wasn't like he wouldn't find anyone awake, people went to patrols all the time and if anything, Luke would definitely be awake. 

He'd gone in and headed straight for the music room, where else would Luke be, and found him there along with Reggie. He felt like whaling on the drums by that point. Luke was all for positive ways of expressing yourself and had insisted they went through different instruments until they found something that fit them. For Luke and Bobby it'd been guitars, Reggie had his bass, Alex had taken a liking to the drums. His anxiety was already going off the charts at times, drumming gave him something to do with his hands, making loud - melodic- noise without putting him in the direct spotlight, perfect for him.

It was a couple of weeks later while Alex was spending the night in the Institute - he'd been doing that a lot lately - that the realization had hit him. They weren't doing anything special, it was just him, Luke, Reggie and Carrie - the newest addition to their group, although had fit right in - watching one of Dru's movies she'd left behind while on her travel year. Horror movies weren't exactly Alex's cup of tea, but sitting there, making jokes, he felt calmer than he had in a long time. It was then he'd realized he hadn't lost his family. Because family loved you unconditionally and looking around the room, his definitely did.

Alex was eighteen when his parents moved to Idris. They still had a relationship, although more superficial than most, and Alex was mad at himself for still trying to earn their admiration and respect. He was officially staying in the Institute though and even though he hated changes, this was one he'd welcomed. Craved almost. Luke's family had never questioned him spending so much time there, they were just happy to see him, but Alex felt like they knew. At least Julian, that guy knew everything. He'd ask Alex how he was doing, subtly push fidget toys, like the ones he'd made for Ty, closer to him when his hands started shaking, until they even started showing up in his room out of nowhere. Julian hadn't said anything, but Alex was grateful.

Alex was nineteen when he met the new twenty year old Alpha and representative of the Los Angeles' werewolf pack. And it was one month later that him and Luke were going over for a briefing. Alex was internally freaking out and Luke could obviously tell, but he somehow still knew what to say.

"What I mean is that your family cares about you," Luke said, "and we want you to be happy."

Alex smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. "Thank you," he said even though he knew he didn't have to. Luke and Reggie never expected anything in return and neither did he for that matter. Family was there for you no matter what.

"So, how are you awake this morning?" Alex changed the subject. He was still itching to find out what had happened last night that was enough to shake Luke Blackthorn.

"What do you mean? I'm always awake," Luke started, but decided to change where he was going with it, "at some point in the morning."

"Luke, you cling on to anyone you can find and fall asleep on them," Alex deadpaned.

"I just... I spent the night with Julie and-"

"Okay, I don't think I need to know more..."

"No, you idiot," Luke said and slapped his shoulder, "she heard me playing the guitar and turns out she plays the piano and oh my God, you should hear her sing, man, she's like... I don't know, this is not what normal people sound like, she must have more angel blood or something."

Alex chuckled. "You're well on your way to forming a band aren't you?"

"Reggie said something like that this morning," Luke said, "I think the universe is sending me signs. You can be our anxious pink loving drummer."

"And I'm guessing you will be our hyper energetic sleeveless guitarist who's crushing on our lead singer?"

"I'm not crushing on Julie, I've known her for like a day," Luke tried to defend himself.

"How many of your songs did you show her last night?"

"Like... Four of them..."

"You might as well be married," Alex said and laughed at Luke's dismissive eye roll.

They finally came to a stop and Alex leapt out of the car before he could talk himself out of it. There were a few Downworlder hangouts in the area, but _Crescent Moon_ was ran by the werewolves and they usually prefered to gather there. Alex had only been to the bar a few times for official Shadowhunter business, but it was a month ago that the Alpha position was passed on and in the span of that one month he'd somehow ended up seeing more of the werewolves than he had in his 19 years of life combined. There was definitely always a reason behind it whether it was important or trivial, short or long, but he somehow always seemed to be one of the only available people to talk with them. Well, not somehow, Carrie and the guys were definitely the ones to blame. Or thank. One of these two.

"You're okay?" he heard Luke from beside him as they stood outside the door looking at the bar. It was still too early which meant they'd have time to talk without getting interrupted, but also - _they'd have time to talk without getting interrupted._ Alex could seriously not make sense of his thought process sometimes.

"Yeah," he breathed out. "Yeah, I'm fine." He moved first and opened the door going in, Luke following him.

The space wasn't very big, considering how many werewolves came and went each day, but it'd never seemed to bother anyone. Light spilled from the big windows on their right and Alex absent mindedly wondered if the abundance of light sources in most werewolf spots had anything to do with their animosity with the vampires. There were people wiping the tables, sweeping around, getting ready for the day - or well, night, coming and going through the back.

The boys couldn't see the Alpha anywhere but before they could even ask, a couple of guys from the pack blocked their way.

"We're not open yet," the one on the left said while glaring at both of them, the tone of his voice indicating they would probably never be open for them.

"Must we do this every time," Luke said and rolled his eyes. "We come in, we argue, we talk with your Alpha, we leave. Can't we just skip one step? He's expecting us!"

"We don't need your help to deal with our problems," he snapped.

"And we respect that, but you don't really speak for your whole pack, do you?" Alex stood their ground.

"Nope, he really doesn't," they heard a new voice and turned to look behind the two werewolves to the left side of the room where Willie was standing behind the bar, leaning on it, a towel on his shoulder. He must have been cleaning or sorting things out down there and had just popped up. He looked over at them with a smile that stopped Alex's thought process altogether and addressed the two guys in front of them again. "I'll take it from here." He sounded casual like he always did, but there was a warning behind his words, that much was clear, and it was really not in any werewolf's best interest to disobey their Alpha.

The werewolves moved out of their way, although begrudgingly, leaving Luke and Alex to walk up to the bar. Luke sat up on one of the stools, but Alex stayed up beside him needing something to do with himself.

"Sorry about them," Willie said his tone back to the usual cheeriness. Alex could never understand how he went from happy laid back guy to serious protective Alpha. There was obviously a reason he'd been given the position and he'd been doing a great job, at least from what Alex knew.

"I promise the rest of the pack loves you," Willie continued.

"I think love is a strong word," Alex said knowing full well that relations were better, but not great.

"Well, they definitely _like_ you," Willie said looking at him with a small more genuine smile. In the two seconds of silence that followed Alex was pretty sure everyone in the room could hear his heartbeat. No, wait, they're werewolves, they actually can hear his heartbeat. They can hear him freaking out over one comment which is great really, not to mention that Willie, standing in front of him pushing a few strands of hair that had escaped his bun behind his ear, can actually hear it and _this is great, this is perfect, this is-_

"We'll take it," Luke's voice got through the mess of incoherent thoughts in his head and he was just grateful his friend knew him well enough to know when he needed an out. "Anything interesting going on here?"

"Not really," Willie said turning his attention back to both of them. "At least nothing major."

"Well we need to listen," Alex said grasping at the opportunity to just stay there a little longer with a justifiable excuse, "because we care," he added, his words coming out in a staccato maner from the uncertainty of what to say and how. He was pretty sure he noticed Luke slightly shaking his head in his peripheral vision, but decided to ignore him for the moment. He just hoped he was getting some kind of message across.

It was fair to say he'd talked with Willie a lot this past month, always about a specific issue, but some conversations would get off track and sometimes no one cared enough to get back to the matter at hand. Not to mention the times that the 'issue' hadn't really been an issue but an excuse to say hi or something. It was also fair to say that they both led busy lives and their free time didn't always coincide. Something else that would be fair to say - and that was coming from his friends - was that you could cut the tension with a knife. Reggie couldn't understand why Willie hadn't made a move, Luke believed Alex should make the first move and Carrie said they were already dating so the conversation was pointless. All things that just left Alex confused in the end.

He let go of the mess of thoughts in his head, tuning back to the conversation even if there really wasn't anything worth mentioning. It was all the time they had for now.


	6. Who Are You Going to Call, Magnus Bane?

"Nothing happened," Julie blurted out before she could stop herself as she and Reggie were walking down the street.

"I... didn't say anything?" Reggie looked at her confused. They'd actually been getting comfortable with each other, he was showing her around, telling her about the Institute and the city in general, but Julie couldn't help but feel that she had to somehow explain herself about that morning.

"I know, I know," she rushed to say, "but I still feel weird."

"Look, Julie, you're into music, you play the piano and you apparently have a killer voice. Luke probably had a heart attack," he said making her chuckle. "How many songs did he show you?"

"Well, he started with one. But I asked him what else he had and we got up to four," Julie said as she thought about last night. She'd always loved music, it was something her and her mom had bonded over, spending endless hours over a piano or belting out song lyrics whenever there was time. It had become harder as the years went by and she'd grown up, gaining more responsibilities, the Shadow World being more and more at stake, but she somehow felt that there had always been time. She never remembered missing her mom before she died.

"He's probably in love with you by now," Reggie said making her laugh.

"Should I tell him that I've dabbled with writing too or is it going to be too much?" she asked with a smile. It was mostly her mom who'd been writing the lyrics, but Julie occasionally joined in whenever the inspiration hit. They'd written the song she'd played yesterday together.

"Just make sure he's sitting down first," he said as they came to a stop in front of an old, seemingly abandoned manor. Julie blinked as she looked through the glamour to find it well preserved, but just as ominous looking. This was exactly the kind of place you'd find haunted and to be honest it might as well be.

"This is where your High Warlock lives?" she asked looking up, trying to take everything in. 

"It doesn't look as frightening on the inside I promise," Reggie said and she followed him to the door. He ringed the doorbell and it was only a few seconds later they were buzzed in.

Julie certainly didn't expect what they came upon.

"Caleb has a flair for the dramatic, he likes to host parties here, everyone is welcomed. Even Shadowhunters..." Reggie explained. 

They were standing on the top of a staircase looking down at rows and rows of tables, all pointed to a stage ready with untouched instruments for the next big event. It looked like fun, but something was giving Julie a weird vibe, almost like they weren't really safe. Reggie didn't look that comfortable either only working to make her feel more on edge. Maybe she was just used to a more homey vibe around their High Warlock back home and this was throwing her off. 

"Come on, he lives upstairs." Reggie motioned for her to follow him as they went through the back and up another flight of stairs.

They came upon a hallway and Reggie knocked on the first door on their right. Julie was still trying to shake off the unease when the door opened.

"Reginald Lovelace, always a pleasure to see you," the man who appeared on the other side said showing genuine interest in their visit there. "And who might that be?" he asked turning his attention to Julie.

"Julie Rosales," Julie said trying to keep the wariness off her voice, "I'm new."

"Well, it's great to meet you, come in," he said and moved to the side so they could walk inside.

Now, Julie had been to Magnus Bane's loft multiple times, she'd seen extra. Somehow this surpassed it. The apartment was huge with two living rooms connected with each other, the walls on their left covered with windows as well as the one opposite of them in the next room, making the place bright as ever considering how dark everything was downstairs. There were two big couches forming a right angle in the middle of the room pointing towards a tv on the wall, hundreds of books in the bookcases all around as well as - what Julie believed to be - priceless artifacts that probably dated back hundreds of years. Right behind them was a piano, the bench pushed back a bit and a few music sheets left on the stand as if he was just playing something. 

"So, Julie, I'm assuming this is your travel year?" Caleb asked gesturing for them to take a seat on the couch as he sat down himself.

"Yeah, I came with my parabatai from the New York Institute," she said sitting down beside Reggie.

"New York..." he said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "How is Magnus? I haven't seen him in quite a few years..."

"Oh well, you know, married with kids..." she said not really wanting to get into any specifics while she still felt her fight or flight reflex was about to kick in.

"Right..." he agreed and Julie thought for a second that she saw something else in his expression, something almost bitter, but it was gone as quick as it came and couldn't be sure about it.

Reggie, probably feeling the uneasiness in the room, jumped right back into Shadowhunter mode and started discussing about any issues with Caleb while also trying to keep Julie in the loop about anything specific she wasn't aware of. 

Julie decided to push her feelings aside for the time being, focusing on the conversation and Reggie. She'd been worried about things being awkward between them after the way he'd woken them up that morning, but Reggie was actually a ray of sunshine, just happy to be there. He'd been telling her stories about the city and the guys on their way there and was now still trying to make sure she didn't miss anything even though he didn't have to. This was official Shadowhunter business, Julie was basically there to just listen and start getting more in touch with the Institute's business, but he'd gone the extra mile. She appreciated that.

A while later, and not soon enough for Julie's taste, they were leaving. It wasn't until they were out of the building that Julie felt the stress leaving her body, alarm bells turning off. She didn't even know why, if anything Caleb had been helpful, discussing about warlock issues, casually mentioning times he'd helped the Shadowhunters out - Julie wasn't exactly sure how that was part of the conversation but she'd chosen not to comment on it and neither had Reggie - and even offering his help for anything that might come up. And Julie wanted to believe that everything was as normal as they appeared to be, but that bugging feeling in the pit of her stomach wouldn't let it go.

"You're okay? I feel like you're ready to fight someone," she heard Reggie from beside her.

"What? No, no, I'm okay, I just..."

"He makes you uneasy," he finished.

"There is something about him... Can't you feel it?" She turned to look at him.

"There have been whispers around the Shadow Market," he said as they started walking back, "nothing concrete though. I'm assuming you're familiar with Malcolm Fade?"

Julie nodded. He'd been the High Warlock of Los Angeles for years and he'd ended up betraying everyone. Maybe she didn't know all the details, she'd been young, but she'd gotten the gist.

"The position was left open for a long time, with the warlocks trying to elect someone new, some of them taking the position temporarily, it hasn't been going great to be honest. A few months ago though Caleb took over and everything got quiet again," Reggie said. "The whispers... They say Caleb wasn't actually elected, almost like he saw an opening and went for it, taking the power for himself, punishing anyone who disagreed. We have looked though, we've tried to find something wrong, anything really, as much as we're allowed to interfere, but there's nothing. No one to back those claims and they just remain in the air. And you know, maybe that's just all they are. Whispers."

Julie looked at him, seeing how he was mostly trying to convince himself with his words. "You don't believe that," she said.

Reggie didn't answer immediately, looking around with his hands in his jacket pockets. "No," he eventually said with a sigh. "But even if it's true, he must have been covering his tracks pretty well. He plays nice with us, the werewolves and the vampires so what more can we say? We can't step over the line unless we're sure there's something seriously wrong. Maybe that's just how he is, you know? Maybe he gives off a weird vibe, but he's actually great. Maybe we're just becoming too suspicious."

"Maybe I can help," Julie said as she took out her phone, looking through her contacts.

"How?" Reggie asked.

"I have people back home who might know more about Caleb than we do," she said as she found who she was looking for and put the phone in her ear.

"Who are you going to call, Magnus Bane?" Reggie joked with a chuckle just as she heard a 'hello' from the other end of the line.

"Hey, Rafe," she said with a smile.

"Wait, you're calling his son?!" Reggie's eyes widened as he looked at her all previous joking non-chalance gone. It made Julie bite her lip to suppress a chuckle.

"Julie! How is Los Angeles?" Rafe answered. "Already missing us on your second day there?"

"Of course," she said, "no one was hogging the training room this morning."

"Hey, you and Flynn do not have a claim on the entire training room."

"We do have seniority though," she said relishing on the familiar banter for a few seconds.

"And we do have to get ready for a parabatai ritual, you had your turn, move on," he said making Julie chuckle. She heard someone speaking somewhere close to him and soon enough there was another voice coming through.

"Hey, Julie! Did you meet Luke?" Tavvy asked her.

"Yeah, it took me a second to connect the dots..."

"They have the same last name," Rafe intervened.

"Yeah, yeah, thank you, I noticed," she said and heard him laughing. "I'm actually with Reggie right now." She turned to Reggie who was still recovering from the fact that she had casually called up Magnus' son. Julie wasn't sure why, Tavvy was Luke's brother and he was going to be his parabatai, this couldn't have been the first time he'd heard about him. 

"It's Tavvy," she told him.

"Ooh, tell him I say hi," he said going back to the easy smile again. "Oh and that Luke knows he took his favorite guitar pick when he left."

"I heard that and have no idea what he's talking about, bye," Tavvy said giving the phone back to Rafe.

"Okay, so I wanted to ask for a favor," Julie said getting back to business. "Can you ask your papa what he knows about Caleb Covington? Current High Warlock of Los Angeles?"

"Why? What did he do?" he asked.

"Maybe nothing, but it's a strong hunch," she said. "Just let me know, please?"

"Hmm, okay, I'll call you after I get back home," he said.

"Thank you," she said, "have fun training in an empty training room."

"There are more people here than just you two!"

Julie was laughing as she hung up.

"If Alex finds out you just casually have Alec and Magnus' son's number on your phone he's going to pass out," Reggie said absent mindedly.

"Luke's brother is going to be his parabatai, this can't be that shocking," she said amused.

"Well yeah, but you've known them for longer and you just casually hang out with their kids and now you're here, that's kind of a big deal."

"I also have Alec's and Magnus' phone numbers," she said with a smirk waiting for a reaction. Alec was thirteen years older than her, but she still remembered him around the Institute before he moved out and even after that. Max and Rafe were younger than she was, but they spent a lot of their days in the Institute and so her, Carlos and Flynn would hang out with them all the time.

Reggie was silent for a second. "Probably wait to tell him about that," he said, "just so we're ready to deal with a panic attack."

"Why would he freak out that much?" she asked.

"Well, Alec has done a lot for the Shadow World. He's changed a lot of things for the better," he said not exactly answering her question, but she figured it must probably be too personal to Alex and she definitely didn't want to pry. 

"So, Luke said you play the bass?" she completely changed the subject not wanting to put him on a difficult position. "You're gonna have to do some vocals too for our future band," she added with a smile.

"You know you joke about that, but you're going to stay here for a year, Luke can convince you. He does those puppy dog eyes when he wants something, it's like kicking a puppy in the face if you tell him no," Reggie said.

"I'm sure he's forgotten all about it," she said even though from the way Luke talked about music last night, she seriously doubted he was going to forget it any time soon. And if she was being honest, she didn't want him to. It had almost felt like old times, it was different, but it was familiar. If that was a way to feel more connected to her mom and her past... She didn't want to let it go just yet.


	7. We Communicate Better When We're Singing

Julie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating. She heard Flynn moving and brought her whip forward, slashing on her left and throwing a knife out of the way. Her eyes were open as the knives kept coming, but she took them all down with relative ease, bringing her whip down as soon as Flynn was out. Well, she probably wasn't out, Flynn always carried some kind of weapon on her, but she was done for now.

"You're getting better," Flynn said.

"You doubt me?" Julie flashed her a smile.

"Never have," she answered sounding more genuine than before. Julie had always been incredibly grateful for having Flynn in her life, she was her sister in every sense of the word. They'd always been there for each other and especially this last year with her mom gone... She wouldn't have made it without Flynn.

"How did it go with the vampires?" she asked her walking up to one of the training room benches and grabbing a water bottle.

"Eh, Lily's more fun," Flynn said with a shrug referring to the clan leader back home. Julie chuckled, she was afraid to leave the two of them together knowing it would probably end in total and utter chaos. "I liked Carrie though, she showed me around a bit. What about Reggie?"

"Oh, Reggie's great," Julie said with a smile thinking back on that morning. His cheerfulness was almost contagious, she couldn't help but smile while they were together walking down the street, telling her stories about the Institute. "Caleb was a bit of a red flag though..."

"Why, what did he do?"

"Nothing... maybe. I don't know, I called Rafe to see if he can find anything out. Reggie didn't seem to trust him either and I'm sure that guy gives everyone the benefit of the doubt."

"Look at you, being here for two days and already slaying," Flynn said with a smile. "So proud," she added wiping away an imaginary tear.

"Okay." Julie rolled her eyes. "I'm just following a hunch. And hopefully I'm wrong and this is all a big misunderstanding."

"Magnus will probably be able to shed some light on things," she said grabbing one of her knives from the floor. "I'm hungry, I'm gonna get a snack. You want anything?" she asked as she started walking backwards to the kitchen.

"No, thanks," Julie answered as Flynn turned around disappearing on the end of the hallway.

Julie brought the whip back, wrapping it around her wrist, going back to its usual unthreatening bracelet form. She stood in the training room hesitating for a few seconds, knowing exactly where she wanted to go, but not sure if she should. There was no one stopping her, if anything people would encourage her, but it still felt weird, playing the piano after all this time. It was a good weird definitely, but it was also bittersweet. She was playing alone now, singing by herself.

In the end, her feet moved on their own, taking her back to the music room where she'd spent the night before with Luke. She knocked on the door once, even though she couldn't hear any instruments or singing, and when no one answered she went in. It was late afternoon, the sun setting in the horizon, bathing the room in a golden orange light, with the piano still in everyone's direct line of sight, right in the middle.

Julie slowly walked up to it, sitting down on the bench. She lightly passed her hands over the keys, remembering how she'd just let go last night and followed the music, singing a song dear to her heart. She started absent mindedly playing a random melody getting herself warmed up and used to that feeling, the rush of singing and playing and putting everything you got into the song.

She didn't realize when the melody changed, but she found herself messing around with one of Luke's songs he'd showed her yesterday. She was messing up the chords a bit, but she could still remember the lyrics, so she started singing softly.

_"Sometimes I think I'm falling down_   
_I wanna cry, I'm calling out_   
_For one more try to feel alive_   
_And when I feel lost and alone_   
_I know that I can make it home_   
_Fight through the dark and find the spark..."_

"You're playing my song?" she suddenly heard a voice and turned around panicked. "Sorry," Luke said sheepishly standing on the doorway.

"Do you have a sixth sense for when someone steps into this room?" Julie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I do actually," he said as he got in and grabbed his guitar from where it was resting on the wall. Julie instincively moved a bit to the side so Luke could side down beside her like last night. He eagerly accepted the invitation.

He took a pick out of his pocket and continued from where she'd left off.

_"Life is a risk, but I will take it  
Close my eyes and jump."_

Julie turned back to the piano and joined him.

_"Together, I think that we can make it_   
_C'mon let's run_

_And rise through the night, you and I_   
_We will fight to shine together, bright forever_   
_And rise through the night, you and I_   
_We will fight to shine together, bright forever."_

Julie went a bit higher on the last note, harmonizing with Luke. He turned to look at her, with the same awe and admiration he had last night, only less surprised now. "You remembered the lyrics," he said.

"It's a catchy song," she said with a smile. "You're actually good at this."

"Oh, gee, thanks," he said rolling his eyes playfully.

"You know what I mean." She nudged his shoulder with her own. "Maybe I can show you what I'd worked on sometime," she added. She hadn't gone back to writing for just as long as she hadn't played the piano, but she had a lot of unfinished melodies. She was pretty sure Luke would be up for helping her if she asked him to.

Luke, who had been passing his hand through the strings, came to an abrupt stop. "You write music?" he asked her, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

"Yeah, a bit... I'd worked on some things on my own but my mom was the main composer if anything," she said with a wistful smile.

Luke was still looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "You write music?" he asked again.

"Why do I feel we communicate better when we're singing?" Julie said with a chuckle.

"I have to sit down," he said looking lost.

"You are sitting down."

"Yeah. I have to get up," he said and did just that.

Julie shook her head amused just as her phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket to see a video call from Rafe. She put it on the piano stand pushing accept while Luke paced up and down on her left.

"Hey, Rafe," she said with a smile. She recognized the familiar living room of the loft behind him as he sat on the couch.

"Hey, so-" he started but was cut off from Tavvy pushing his head in front of the camera and looking around Julie's surroundings.

"Is that the music room? By the Angel, did Luke drag you in there too?" he asked.

"Hey!" Luke got in touch with reality again and sat back down next to Julie so he could be seen too. "I don't drag anyone in here."

"You practically live in there," Tavvy deadpaned.

"Is that why you took my pick? As a punishment?" Luke said with a scowl that did nothing to make him look angry. Julie didn't think he could actually look angry, he was just too... what's the word? Adorable.

"I did not take that pick, you are delusional. You also have like a hundred of them so just chill," Tavvy said.

"You know most of your stuff is here," Luke said resting his crossed arms on his guitar with a smirk, "I'll get my revenge."

Tavvy rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."

"Okay, so we just got back, I figured you could ask papa what you wanted if Max hasn't sent him to Edom or something by now," Rafe said taking back control of the conversation.

"That has never happened and at least _I_ didn't destroy dad's bow while training inside the house," the little blue warlock popped up from somewhere further inside the loft to defend himself.

"Hey, it was not destroyed, we put it back together!" Rafe said.

"Papa put it back together." Max crossed his arms.

"And the important thing is that your dad never found out," the man in question walked behind Max into the living room and leaned against the back of the couch so that he was in the frame. "Julie, always a pleasure."

"Hey, Magnus," she said with a smile, far too used at Max and Rafe's bickering. She'd done her fair share with Carlos. 

"And Luke." His eyes landed to the boy next to her. "Last time I saw you you were attached to a guitar trying to get the chords right."

"He's still trying," Tavvy said from somewhere in the backround with a snort.

"And he calls me an idiot," Luke murmured shaking his head. "Hi," he said a bit louder, smiling brightly as he waved his hand and then let it rest back on his guitar.

"Julie wanted to ask you about a warlock," Rafe said looking back at Magnus.

"Yeah, the new High Warlock of Los Angeles actually," Julie said getting back to business mode, "Caleb Covington? He implied that you know each other."

"Yeah, I heard about that..." Magnus said with a sigh. "Wouldn't call it the smartest choice from the warlocks of LA..."

"Why not?" Luke asked joining the conversation. She hadn't talked about her suspicions with the boys, but Reggie had made it clear that they all shared the uneasiness. If she was looking to find something, they wouldn't go up against her.

"We were never running in the same circles, but we did meet a few times, I mostly know of him," Magnus said. "Caleb just relishes in being the most powerful person in the room and knowing that everyone is aware."

"So... Does that make him a harmless megalomaniac or should we be worried?" Julie asked.

"Did something happen?"

"No, nothing specific..." Julie trailed off. "Just a hunch... and a lot of whispers apparently."

"Not all Shadow Market whispers have value," Magnus said, "but it doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful. In my experience sometimes people change, evolve. Even after so many years." Julie noticed him glancing at Rafe and Max, who had taken a seat next to his brother on the couch, with a smile, but they boys didn't seem to pay attention to it. "I can keep an ear out if that makes you feel any better."

"Thank you," Julie said slightly more relieved. Having Magnus Bane watching out for you definitely put you at ease.

"Hey, Julie, how did the portal work yesterday?" Max asked her realizing the serious conversation was over.

"It was great, Max, you're getting much better at this you know," she said with a smile that made him beam on the couch.

"Hey, Luke, are you-" The door suddenly opened and Alex came inside, obviously looking for Luke. "Oh, I'm sorry-" he started to say when he noticed the video call, but then he must have seen who was on the screen and froze.

"Oh, Alex, come." Julie gestured for him to come closer. "Magnus, this is Alex," she said.

"Oh, I know, I've made a point of memorizing the whole Lightwood family tree in my free time," Magnus said. "It's easier when we've already met though, you're the drummer, right?"

"You remember me?" Alex snapped out of his daze still frozen on his spot though.

"Of course," Magnus said giving him a warm smile. Julie didn't really know much about Alex, but she could feel that this was a big moment for him.

They heard a door opening somewhere in the back of the loft and then a second familiar voice greeting everyone. 

"Hey, dad," Rafe and Max called out. "Julie called from LA," Rafe added.

"Oh, how is-" he started to say but they heard a crash and then Alec came stumbling into the frame.

"Can you believe this man is our Consul?" Rafe turned to look back at the camera.

"Hey, you show some respect to your father, Rafael," Magnus said. "Just because he's the clumsiest Shadowhunter-"

"Okay, so how is LA?" Alec put an end to that conversation with a smile.

"Pretty great actually," Julie said surprising herself a bit. She had only been there for two days, but she already felt pretty comfortable with everyone around her in the Institute. Some maybe more than others... She didn't expect to feel at home so quickly.

"I'm glad," he said with a smile. "Luke, Alex, how are you guys?" he added addressing the boys around her.

"You know, killing some demons, playing some music... The Institute has been quiet for the first time in forever, it's kind of creepy," Luke said taking point seeing as Alex was still processing what was happening. "But Alex has made sure to put us in order because he's the one usually handling the braincell between us three," he added with a smile.

"Ah, been there, done that," Alec said with a chuckle. "Good job, Alex."

Alex's eyes were seconds away from popping out of his skull, but he eventually cleared his throat and tried to act casual. "Uhm, yeah, uh, thanks," he said.

"Okay, people, it's time for dinner," Magnus said as he sat up straight again motioning for everyone to start getting up. "I'll let you know if I hear anything, Julie."

"Thanks again for everything," she said, "bye guys." She waved at everyone.

She heard a chorus of byes and one 'stay out of my room, Luke'.

"Can't promise anything until I get my pick back," Luke answered in a sing song voice and then the call was ended.

"Right, okay, I'm gonna go cry for a sec really quick and I'll be right back," Alex said and walked out of the room leaving them alone again.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Julie asked momentarily worried about his reaction.

"Yeah, don't worry," Luke said with a smile watching after Alex. "He's going out on patrol with Reggie tonight, he'll get it out of his system," he added amused as he eventually turned back around facing the piano again.

"So, what's so special about that pick?" Julie asked curiosity eating at her. Lack of it didn't seem to stop him from spending his time over that guitar.

"Oh," Luke said with a shy smile looking down at his guitar as he passed the pick he'd taken out of his pocket through the chords, "it's nothing. It's just my first one. It's not like I even use it, it's been so worn out, there's no point really, but I kept it. It's special, you know? How it all started and stuff?"

Julie nodded. "You're sentimental," she said, "maybe your brother is too."

"What do you mean?" he asked tilting his head confused. She wasn't sure if it was Reggie who had put it in her head, but he really did look like a puppy.

"He's been gone for a few months now and well, from what I'm gathering, he's been used to being around a whole bunch of Blackthorns. You're his family, he probably misses you and wanted to have something of yours with him," she said.

Luke looked at her realization settling upon him. "Well now I just feel bad," he said, his face falling. Oh God, she had kicked the puppy in the face. Luke's whole family was away too, he probably missed everyone just as much.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think this through, with everyone away-" Julie started to say.

"Oh no, don't worry about me," he dismissed it waving a hand around. "I mean I miss my family, I love them like crazy, but Reggie, Alex and Carrie are my family too. I could have gone to Alicante too, I just chose to stay here with them, even if it would have just been for a couple of months."

"Well, Tavvy has Rafael," she said with an encouraging smile not wanting him to worry about his younger brother, "and the whole Lightwood-Bane family for that matter. He's not alone."

Luke's lips quirked upwards as he looked up at her. "I like you, Rosales," he said.

Julie chuckled. "You're not too bad yourself, Blackthorn."


	8. What Do You Want Me to Say?

"Like, can you understand what happened? This is just- wow, I don't know, it's something!" Alex kept rambling with no purpose as they walked up on the roof.

"Are you sure you're good to be going on patrol like this?" Reggie asked him partially worried about him possibly falling off the roof, but Alex could see him smiling.

"They remembered me! They know who I am!" Alex said still in his own little daze.

"You do remember you're related right? You're not a random person on the street," Reggie said as they came to a halt looking at the horizon. It was late, too late actually, and it was probably the first time Alex was paying no attention to what was going on around him. Was that a good Shadowhunter quality? Not really, no, but he trusted Reggie too much to know he would pull him back to reality when needed. It was quiet anyway, he could spare a couple of minutes to freak out over what had happened.

"I know, I know, but this is... It's different," Alex tried to explain waving his hands around and wishing he had a demon to kill or a drum to hit. Anything to get the tension out.

Reggie chuckled. "Wishing things weren't so quiet, aren't you?" he asked with a smirk.

"You know this telepathy thing, I really appreciate it." Alex held his hand out motioning between them. Alex didn't have a parabatai and neither did Reggie or Luke, but - even though he knew it wasn't possible - he somehow felt like he'd already formed that connection with both of them. Maybe it was all in his head, he didn't know what it felt like to have a parabatai, hadn't performed any rituals, didn't know how strong the connection was supposed to be, just imagined. There were times though when he couldn't understand what more he could possibly ask from his friends, his family.

They'd always been there for each other, no questions asked. All four and then three of them. They had each other's backs, they'd trained enough together to recognize each other's fighting styles and move around accordingly. Luke was always more impulsive, changing his moves without thinking about what he was going to do next, just going with the flow, whatever came naturally, letting his instincts take over and charge in accordingly. For someone who always seemed to have his mind somewhere else, he was pretty focused when he was in the moment. Many said it was natural Shadowhnter instincts taking over. Alex knew that Luke gave his everything in whatever he chose to do and just because he loved music that didn't mean he'd written off being a Shadowhunter. It was just as much a part of who he was in his core as was his passion for music.

Reggie was surprisingly more calculating. Alex was attributing it to the fact that his weapon of choice was the bow and arrow. He couldn't just start shooting arrows blindly - well, most of the time, he'd gotten some incredible shots in during practice and while fighting - he needed to be aware of the space around him. He usually worked better, finding the higher ground and covering the others, but it didn't take away from close combat. He sliced through demons with a seraph blade just as easy, still staying aware of where he was and how he needed to move through the space.

Alex was good at multitasking under pressure. Every time they were in a fight the instincts that'd been instilled in him took over and he gave it his everything. He was an anxious person, always needing something to do with his hands, needing to have them moving, which is why drumming had worked so well for him. As had the _kindjals_. Having a dagger in each hand, swinging them around, able to swiftly move and take out enemies from both sides had always been helpful and helped him stay in balance. The drumsticks were just as reassuring out of the battlefield.

So when Alex, the anxiety ridden Shadowhunter, walked into a fight with his brothers, he wasn't nervous or afraid. He knew that whatever strategy he chose, Luke would adapt and follow without his game being thrown off. He knew that Reggie always had his back from somewhere further away or even closer, keeping track of where Luke and Alex were in the battlefield. And they knew that even if Alex had one eye on the demon in front of him, he always tried to keep them in his peripheral vision and act alongside if they needed help. They made a good team.

So when people would say that having a parabatai was completely different he would try and explain. He knew he couldn't be a good judge without having experienced the connection, but he also knew what he was feeling. And the others agreed. Well, at least Luke always did, Reggie still needed convincing sometimes and they were happy to give him the reassurance.

Alex still remembered two years ago when he'd broken his right arm. It wasn't anything severe and even though the iratzes couldn't instantly put the bone back together, they had definitely helped speed up the process as well as take away some of the pain. He knew it didn't make sense and he knew there wasn't any logical reason behind it, but while he was recovering he'd caught Reggie wincing while he pulled back the string on his bow, not able to hit any of the targets, shaking his arm to alleviate some kind of irritation. Luke - who once had a fever of 103 and was still attached to that guitar not willing to let go just because he was delirious - wasn't playing as much, feeling some kind of pain spiking up and down his arm as he moved his fingers through the chords. It shouldn't make sense, but to Alex it somehow did.

Carrie had fit in flawlessly, most like everything she did. She always prefered having her own space, trusting the guys to look out for her as she did for them. She joked around with them, joined in in whatever crazy thing they decided to do, even encouraged Luke's musical talents like the guys did and then tease them all later. Luke joked about Alex handling the braincell between the three of them, but if anything he shared with Carrie. Her having the extra advantage of not spiraling into panic attacks every now and then.

"Do you want to sit down for a sec? I'm getting worried about you." Reggie looked at him still amused by his inability to process what had happened today. Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood remember who he is. Alec Lightwood had told him he was doing a good job. What.

"Yeah... yeah," Alex said nodding his head and taking a seat right on the ledge, his legs dangling off the building.

"By the Angel, Alex, you want to give me a heart attack, don't you?" Reggie said as he came closer and sat down on the roof, leaning his arms against the ledge.

"Come on, it's not even that high," Alex dismissed it with a smile.

Reggie leaned a bit further against the ledge, peering over the edge and looking down. His eyes widened and he pulled back again. "Nope, no, not going there." He shook his head making Alex laugh.

"Here," Alex said taking out his stele and drawing a Balance rune on his upper right arm. "Better?"

"No, the fact that you didn't already have that on you doesn't make me feel better," Reggie said rolling his eyes, only working to make Alex smile more. He'd been happy today, sue him. 

They stayed like that for a few seconds, looking at the city's skyline, enjoying the night atmosphere all around them. They'd covered the territory they were supposed to cover and were just waiting around, looking for any signs of trouble.

Reggie was the first to turn around to the sound of footsteps. Alex did so too apprehensively, sure the building was inhabited, but it was 2 am on a Wednesday night, most people should probably be asleep by now.

"I thought I heard familiar voices."

Alex's breath caught in his throat, while Reggie's hand instinctively flew forward to grab his arm, fearing that no rune would work over his awkwardness and he would actually fall off the roof.

"Dude, I'm not going to fall," Alex tried to reassure him.

"You say that now," Reggie said as he scrambled to get up with a smile. "Hey, Willie," he said as the man came closer, doing a little handshake with him.

Alex looked at him partially confused and amused as to when they'd actually developed that, but he didn't say anything. "What are you doing here?" he asked Willie instead trying not to sound like he was internally freaking out. Which he was, but not as much as he'd expected. His previous freak out had lowered the bar a lot for what could throw him off the figurative edge for the rest of the day.

"Well, I actually live on the fifth floor," Willie answered with a smile. He was wearing the same clothes as this morning, his hair still up in a bun, he'd probably just come back from work. "We'd never had the pleasure of getting personal Shadowhunter protection though," he added looking mainly at Alex. "You're not going to jump, are you?"

"Why is everyone so freaked out, you know, I killed four demons yesterday. That was more dangerous than this, yet no one bats an eyelash," Alex said eager to have something to say even if that was just defending his seating choice.

"I have more faith in you killing demons than not being clumsy aroun-" Reggie started saying, but caught himself just before Alex could lose all ability to function. Thank the Angel. "You know, I'm going to go check the fire escape a bit more, we could have missed so many things..." he added as he started backing up towards it.

"Don't go far," Alex called after him not wanting him to be out there without backup just because he wanted to give Alex alone time with Willie. Reggie gave a thumbs up and disappeared.

"Talk about coincidence," Willie said.

"Yeah, not so sure about that..." Alex trailed off knowing his friends well enough and not really believing in coincidences.

Willie took a seat beside him on the ledge, feet dangling over the edge too, not a care in the world on his face as he looked at the sky. Alex absent mindedly noted that it would be a full moon in a few days.

"How do you do this?" Alex asked him before he could stop himself.

"Do what?" Willie asked turning to look at him, a twinkle in his eye.

"You're just so..." He gestured at him trying to find the right words. "Cool, relaxed... Like you don't have a care in the world. And I mean you're the Alpha and the werewolf representative, these come with a lot of responsibilities," he said.

Willie laughed at that, looking genuinely amused if not a little surprised at his question.

"What?" Alex asked with a small smile himself.

"I have a hundred things going through my head at any given time," he said still grinning. "About the pack, our issues, our well-being, our future, the vampires, the warlocks, the Shadowhunters - no offense -, the Accords, the full moon and the list goes on and on..."

"Exactly my point!"

"You'd be surprised how much better howling at the moon makes you feel. It releases the tension," Willie said with a smile.

"Yeah, see, I didn't think of that," Alex said with a chuckle.

"And you know," Willie added after a small pause, "I guess when you're with the right people you kind of forget about your problems for a sec..." He gave a little shrug, still looking at Alex with that damn smile.

Alex gaped at him. "You can't say things like that," he said his voice going a bit higher as he turned away to look anywhere else, trying to hide the blush creeping up on his cheeks.

Willie breathed a laugh. "What do you want me to say?" he asked.

And Alex knew the answer to that, they'd been dancing around each other for a month now - how long did it have to be before it wasn't just stolen moments here and there or official business that turned into casual conversation as the time went by? Willie hadn't done anything either though and Alex was definitely not ready to deal with rejection. Not after crushing hard for the past month.

But then he had his friends' voices inside his head, telling him how he shouldn't be scared. How he deserved someone nice. And, God, Willie was nice. He was much better than nice, he was... Breathtaking.

In a sudden surge of confidence, that Alex was going to blame on his adrenaline still going from when the guy he'd idolized his whole life had casually told him he was doing a good job, he turned on his right, moving his leg so it was on the other side of the ledge, touching on the roof. He'd hate to let Reggie down and actually fall of the building.

Willie looked up at his sudden movement, his face suddenly much closer than before. Alex gave him a couple of seconds to move away, or turn back around, but he didn't. Before he could talk himself out of it, he leaned in closer ever so carefuly, kissing Willie softly, uncertain.

Mere seconds went by before Willie pulled back, looking guilty himself.

"Alex, I'm sorry, I shouldn't..." he started to say and that's when all the alarms went off. _You made a mistake, you should have never even tried, mistake, mistake-_

"No, no, no," Willie rushed to say holding his hands out, probably seeing the crumbling expression on Alex's face.

"Fuck it," Willie said again, swinging around so his left leg was back inside of the ledge too and grabbed Alex's face bringing him close and kissing him passionately, finally putting all this tension between them to good use.

Alex's confusion only lasted half a second before he kissed him back with just as much intensity, getting lost in the feeling. It was as if all the pieces had finally fallen into place, Alex had taken a leap of faith and he didn't feel like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Well, he did, but not because of an upcoming panic attack. Why hadn't they been doing this all along?

"Al- Oh, shit," they heard and broke off, turning around to see Reggie who had climbed back up on the roof, breathing heavily. Had he run up there? "I'm so so sorry, I honestly love what's happening here, but, you know, demons?" he said almost as if questioning it himself.

"What? Where?" Alex sobered up quick.

"Here?"

"Yeah, right, okay," Alex said shaking his head, trying to clear it up and completely turned around, stepping onto the roof, Willie following.

"Sorry." Reggie gave another apologetic smile as he headed back to the fire escape.

"I'm sorry," Alex said too.

"I think protecting LA from hellish creatures is a good excuse as any to run away," Willie said with a chuckle just as Alex got his _kindjals_ out swirling them around in his hands, much like he did with his drumsticks.

Willie looked at him with a sigh. "God, you're hot," he said before leaning in again kissing him quickly, but with the same intensity as before. "Good luck, Shadowhunter," he said.

Alex, feeling more relaxed than he'd ever had in the prospect of having to go kill some demons, backed away giving him a wink and ran after Reggie.


	9. Our Imaginary Band Would Rock

Julie had been accustomed to Luke's love for music by now. She'd only been in the Institute for a few days and they'd already spent more time together than she had with anyone else.

She was not complaining.

Luke was a great guy and just the passion he had for music made her want to dive right back into it, play the melodies again, sing the lyrics, write more. Her mom would have liked that.

It wasn't just Luke who played though, even if he was the one attached to the guitar, going through lyrics and chords in his head at any given moment. She knew Alex and Reggie played too, at least that's what Luke had said, but she hadn't gotten to hear them yet. She was curious if anything, were they good? Were they as much into it as Luke was? Well, no one was probably as into it as Luke was, but that didn't mean it wasn't important to them.

She got the chance to hear Alex when he came back from patrol with Reggie the day of her video chat with Rafe and the rest of his family. 

It was late - must have been around 3 am and yes, Julie and Luke were still awake going over one of her own songs she'd never gotten to finish, sue them - when Alex opened the door and came inside.

"Oh hey, you're here," he said after a few seconds as if he hadn't realized them sitting on the piano bench in the middle of the room right on sight from the door.

"Dude, we'll sleep, don't-" Luke started to say, but Alex waved a hand around dismissing it.

"I'm not Julian, Luke, you can do whatever you want," he said walking over to the drums.

Julie was about to continue with what they'd been doing, wanting to try something different for the chorus, but she noticed Luke's eyes following Alex to where he'd sat down, looking worried. Julie looked back to Alex who seemed to be lost in his own world as he searched around for something.

"Was patrol okay?" Luke asked not taking his eyes off of Alex.

"Patrol was _great_ ," Alex answered as he grabbed his drumsticks twirling the right one around in his hand. "Do you mind if I whale in the drums for like an hour because those few demons didn't really do much for me," he added just as casually.

"Alex, are you okay?" Luke asked as he slowly stood up, letting his guitar lie against the piano.

"Yes," he answered, but then realization crossed his face and added, "this is not a breakdown. Although I get why you would think that, but today has been a good day. First of all, Julie," he said pointing one drumstick at her, "I like you, have I said that?"

Julie chuckled, not sure were the sudden excitement came from, but willing to go with it. "I like you too, Alex."

"Thank you," he said bringing the drumstick back to his chest. "I mean Alec and Magnus have just... They've changed things you know? And then Alec becoming Consul and throwing a big 'fuck you' to the face of the Clave and so many more people who deserved to hear it... You know, that speaks to me on a personal level."

"You're not doing much to ease my worries," Luke said still standing by the piano, staring at Alex confused.

"No, no, I get what you're saying," Julie cut in, "things are changing for the better."

"Things _are_ changing for the better," he said with a sigh.

"I cannot be the only one creeped out by this," Luke said.

"Why are you creeped out? He's happy." Julie held her hand out to Alex's direction who wasn't even paying his full attention on them.

"It's 3 am and he just came back from patrol, why would he be happy?" Luke turned to her.

"And you!" Alex continued his own little monologue, ignoring parts of the conversation, pointing his drumstic at Luke this time. "Thank you, Luke."

"... For what?" Luke asked a bit quieter, surprised of the turn the conversation had taken.

"You know, for just... being you. Existing," Alex tried to emphasize.

"You're welcome?" Luke said uncertain glancing back at Julie who just shrugged obviously knowing less about this than either of them.

"So we saw Willie on patrol today," Alex started again, "oh, Julie, I should mention, I've had a crush on this guy for like a month - and I'm all like, when did a month go by, right? Right. So, long story short, I kissed him, he kissed me, we kissed, this is a thing now that happens, can you understand that?" he said emphasizing each syllable of his last four words by hitting his drumsticks together.

And Julie had known Alex for two days and didn't even know Willie other than the fact that he was an Alpha werewolf, but seeing him so happy and lost in his daydreaming, she couldn't help but catch some of that happiness too.

"Wait, he kissed you?" Luke asked still trying to process the news that must have dropped like a bomb on him.

"No, no, _I_ kissed _him_ ," Alex clarified, still using his drumsticks to point at himself and then the air in front of him that probably symbolized Willie. "Then he kissed me, get your facts right."

"Wow, Alex," Luke started his whole demeanor suddenly changing from worried and confused to the beaming hyperactive puppy everyone always talked about. "I'm so happy for you!" he said as he jumped to sit on the piano.

"Careful!" Julie shouted before she could stop herself.

"What? I'm fine!" Luke looked back at her with a shrug.

"I don't care about you, I care about the piano!" she said passing her hands over the top in front of her. "If you break it, I break you."

"You do remember it's our piano, right?" he asked her.

"Dude, no one has played that thing in years, it belongs to Julie now," Alex said siding with her.

"Thank you," Julie said loving the turn of events and turning back from Luke's pouty face to Alex's beaming one. "Also, I would love to hear you play," she told him, "as long as we don't wake the whole Institute up and they come for us."

Luke scoffed. "No one appreciates talent anymore," he said lying down on the piano and Julie glared at him about taking no care with the instrument, but he just smiled back at her.

"Also Julian spent two days soundproofing everything back when we were ten to make sure Emma wouldn't kill us," Alex added.

"Emma loves us," Luke pointed out.

"I never said she doesn't," Alex said, "also the soundproofing doesn't work if you leave the door open."

"That happened like once or twice..."

"Yeah, yeah, or ten times, I know," Alex said but he was still smiling. "Here, I was thinking about your song lately..."

"Which one?" Luke shot up and jumped down from the piano, Julie finally breathing out.

" _Bright_ ," he said, "it sounds so lonely when it's just you and your guitar."

Julie laughed. "Should we all just jam together and hope that your brother did a good job keeping the room quiet?" she asked.

"Yes!" Luke answered before she had even finished her sentence. "I-I mean, if you want to," he backtracked, his hand scratching his neck, "it's late, I get it. And you," he said turning to Alex, "you came here to be alone, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but this is better." Alex smiled at him.

Luke grinned back, grabbing his guitar. "I think Julie should start with the piano and then we come in," he said.

"Okay," she said as she grabbed Luke's notebook where they'd been making notes on the piano chords these past couple of days, and put it on the stand. "Count us in, Alex."

Alex spinned his drumstick around once more and hit them together to give them the tempo.

* * *

Hearing Reggie playing had started out a bit differently. It was a week later and Julie was walking over to the music room alone this time. It'd become part of her routine and it was honestly making her feel much better than she'd expected. Almost as if the answer had been in front of her all along, but the walls she'd been putting up around her were preventing her from seeing it.

Luke was on patrol with Alex and it was honestly not too late, so she didn't feel as bad in case the soundproofing failed. Then again no one had complained about Luke, Alex and hers' jam session last time, so she thought they were good. She'd opened the door thinking she wouldn't find anyone inside, only to discover Reggie, sprawled on the window bench playing a sad, but beautiful melody on his bass.

Julie was about to close the door just as fast, not wanting to bother him, but it was too late, he'd already noticed her.

"Hey," Reggie said looking up at her with a smile.

"Hey," she said, "I didn't think anyone would be here, I can go," she added making to leave the room, but Reggie stopped her.

"No, no, it's okay, I don't mind the company," he said gathering his legs closer to him to make room for Julie to sit.

She walked over quietly, taking a seat beside him, crossing her legs under her on the bench. "You're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine." Reggie offered her the usual smile that was stuck on his face most of the time, although this one was clearly forced.

"Because it's okay if you're not, we can't be happy all the time," she said having some experience on the pretending-you're-fine-when-you're-not-really-fine area.

"You can try," he offered, holding a hand out.

"I don't think anyone expects that..." she said.

Reggie gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah..." He sighed as he leaned on the window looking outside where the sun had just set.

"Can I ask what happened?" Julie said. "You don't have to tell me, I know I'm still new here, but if I can help somehow..." she trailed off leaving it up to him.

"It's nothing..." Reggie said still looking outside while the tone of his voice clearly indicated it was very much something. "Just that my parents and I don't exactly have the best of relationships, it's always a surprise when they call. Even if it's just to make sure that I'm still alive or something." He sighed. "I really thank the Angel every day for the Blackthorns. And Emma of course."

Julie had started piecing some things together from everyone's different accounts and from what she remembered hearing from Tavvy. There were eight Blackthorn siblings with one of Luke's sisters being the eldest, although Julian's name was thrown around a lot as if he'd always been the one in charge around there. Julie had never heard anyone mention Luke's parents and she didn't know if she should ask.

Emma was a Carstairs, vaguely related to Flynn although none of them had been able to follow the Carstairs family tree connections enough to make sense of it. Distant cousins sounded good enough. She was apparently dating Julian and she also sounded like an authority figure around the Institute at times. Diana had definitely been delighted, if not a little nostalgic seeing Julie and Flynn together, mentioning how she'd missed having a Carstairs and Rosales duo around. Julie figured she was talking about Emma and Cristina.

"They're great people," Julie agreed, "the ones I've met at least, there are so many."

Reggie chuckled at her comment, turning to look at her. "You have any siblings?" he asked her.

"I have a brother," she said, "younger. I left him in charge back home." She smiled at the memory. She'd talked with Carlos yesterday and he'd informed her that everything was going great and he was keeping everything under control. "And well, there's also Flynn, she's practically my sister. You get it, you have Alex and Luke."

Reggie smiled, but it fell a bit as he looked outside again. "We're not parabatai though," he said, "none of us have one."

"Well yeah, but that doesn't downgrade your relationship," Julie said. "I mean I would love and protect Flynn as much as I do now even if we weren't parabatai."

"Yes, of course, I just... It's nothing. Alex's birthday was kind of tough on me I guess," he said with a shrug.

"Alex is the oldest?"

"No, it's first me in May, Alex in July and Luke in October," Reggie answered making her even more confused. She could understand how him turning nineteen put an ending to the parabatai ritual, but he seemed way more concerned with the fact that Alex had crossed that line.

"I liked what you were playing before," Julie said changing the subject seeing how Reggie's mood was not improving. Maybe she didn't know what exactly was going on, but if she could just distract him for a while he would probably appreciate it.

"Yeah?" he asked his face lighting up a bit.

"Yeah." She nodded her head. The boys were talented, there was no question about that. "I don't know why Luke's been keeping you and Alex hidden from me, I think our imaginary band would rock."

"Totally, we can play before Clave meetings to hype everyone up," Reggie said making them both burst out laughing.

"You know Luke would say yes," she said having started to understand the guitarist more and more.

"Luke would already be texting Tavvy to talk to Alec so he can set it up," Reggie said still smiling.

"Here, let's play something together," Julie said as she got up and sat down on the piano bench. She was acting instinctively now, thinking about her own experiences. She remembered whenever she was sad or in a bad mood, her mom would pull her aside and sing with her, teach her the piano, figure out new songs and melodies... She cherised those memories. Maybe she could help Reggie too.

Reggie looked at her for a second, but eventually got up and followed her, standing next to the piano unlike Luke who would sit down beside her. "Any requests?" he asked with a smile, more genuine this time.

"I actually had an idea," Julie said grabbing the familiar music sheets from the top of the piano. She'd been fleshing out the piano chords for Luke's song more and more on her own and was really looking forward to seeing the boy's face in the end. Alex had obviously been thinking about it too, he'd said so himself which meant he must have been working on the drumbeat. If she could get Reggie in on it to work out the bass chords... They could really get something beautiful in the end.


	10. Shadowhunters Die Young

"I don't like what's happening here," Julie said as she was walking across the roof, Luke beside her.

"Why not?" he asked his eyebrows furrowing as he looked down at her.

"Because you're constantly vibrating with movement and I'm not so sure you're not going to fall off the ledge," she deadpaned.

Luke chuckled and jumped back down, walking on her right in the safety of the roof. "Reggie doesn't like heights either," he said.

"I don't have a problem with heights, I have a problem with you falling off of them," she explained her perfectly valid concerns about this hyperactive boy's well-being.

"Aww, you care about me," he said with a cheeky smile that Julie had been trying not to be distracted by for the past two weeks. And she'd been doing a great job at that. She thought.

"Well yeah, who else is going to care about a bunch of unfinished melodies I've worked on and want to finish someday?" she answered with a smirk without even looking at him.

Luke laughed as he nudged her shoulder with his own. "You only like me for my amazing musical talent," he said sighing dramatically.

"No, I also like you for your admirable humility," she retorted making him chuckle again.

They'd been spending more and more time together these past couple of weeks. Julie had showed up in LA with a lot of reservations, not eager to leave her home and family behind just to go on a trip, but she was certainly not regretting it. She'd spent a long time trying to keep away from everyone, trying to forget about what had happened and every little thing that might remind her of her mom or what they used to do together, she hadn't thought it might actually be what she needed.

Playing music was one of the few things her and her mom did together, breaking the usually harsher routine of being a Shadowhunter. It'd been their thing, what they'd bonded over. She thought going back there would only enhance the pain she'd been feeling al this time, adding more to it, something else they couldn't do together anymore, something else she'd been left behind to do alone. Sure, her family liked music and they loved hearing her play, but they didn't know how to take part in it leaving Julie to figure things out on her own.

Only she was suddenly not alone in this anymore. Luke had been the most unexpected addition in her life, coming out of nowhere with a guitar included. And music meant so much to him, he was desperately trying to keep it in his life without disrupting the peace and balance. He didn't just listen to Julie play - although he did that a lot, gaping at first at the fact that there was someone else who cared just as much as him - he joined her. The guitar accompanied the piano in harmony, changing the melodies, helpind them evolve into something bigger. And she might not have freaked out when she first heard him sing like he had, but the boy could really _sing_.

And then there was Alex and Reggie who could also shred on their respective instruments. Alex who had come in ecstatic about making out with the Alpha of the werewolf pack in LA on top of a roof - which in retrospect sounded great and it was definitely not what she was thinking about while walking around with Luke on a rooftop. And Reggie who seemed to have a lot on his mind, but then he got lost in the music and relaxed with each chord played blending with the rest of the melody.

Playing with either of them, it was comfortable, easy and to Julie it almost felt familiar. They'd all come together a few times and she was suddenly in a whole new environment. People making music, jamming together and having fun. Maybe she could get used to this. At first she didn't want to intrude, but the boys had definitely been welcoming, encouraging her to join them especially after hearing Luke gushing about her voice and piano playing. She'd showed Luke the chords she was working on about his song, as well as Alex and Reggie and she swore he had teared up right then and there. It didn't sound perfect yet with all of them together, but it was getting somewhere. And that was beautiful.

She hadn't exactly told Flynn about it yet and she didn't want to keep it a secret, but it was kind of a big deal. She was sure Flynn knew at some level that Julie was keeping something from her, but she hadn't asked, waiting for Julie to talk to her on her own. And she had every itention of doing so, but she knew it was a big step, after all Flynn knew exactly what that meant to her. Just like she had clicked with Luke and was beginning to come closer with all three boys in general, she was happy to see that Flynn was hanging out with Carrie. They both had a thing for knives, relentlessly talking about weapons, prefering to spend their free time training and going through the armory.

It was all working great.

"What are you thinking about?" Luke asked her. 

Julie shook her head, focusing back on reality. "Nothing," she said with a shrug, "just that this is better than I expected."

"Why, what did you expect?"

"I don't know... I guess I just wasn't so excited for my travel year. It hasn't been a great year for me..." she said with a sigh, not elaborating. She didn't know exactly how to casually mention in conversation what had happened to her mom or what music actually meant to her.

"I couldn't wait to go on my travel year," Luke said as he jumped into the next rooftop, the gap between the buildings non existant. Julie followed. "The Institute is too loud sometimes."

"And that's not because of you?" Julie raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I don't make as much noise as you think. Have I mentioned how big my family is? Imagine that and add a few boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and kids and just think about it. Me and my guitar are not the source of chaos," he said defending himself. "And you know, when the little ones don't sleep who does my sister call? Me," he said pointing to himself, "I can rock a lullaby in my sleep."

Julie laughed. "My mom used to sing me and my brother to sleep when we were little," she said absent mindedly, smiling at the memory.

"Does she have an incredible voice too?" Luke asked. "Because if I find out there's two of you, I might cry."

Julie breathed a laugh, trying not to let the bad thoughts take over. "She did," she said. "We would sing together a lot."

Luke nodded his head slightly, not pushing her to continue. "I don't remember much of my mom," he said, "I was only four when she passed away. I do know she loved painting though and photography. It's only my brother Julian that has taken after her on the painting part, but I really do believe that artistic tendencies run in the family."

Julie was almost taken aback by his words. She'd spent so much time around Tavvy these past couple of months in the Institute and yet now she felt like she didn't know anything about him or his family. Luke had already mentioned his sister had died and now his mom... How many people had the Blackthorns lost?

"I'm sorry," he said, "maybe I shouldn't have said that."

"No, no," she rushed to say, "I..." she hesitated. Was she really going to do it? Just come out and say it like that? She knew Luke must have understood what had happened, it wasn't hard, but actually talking about it was different. She'd been dancing around it for a while now and she hated to think how she could change things. Seeing Luke being so open with her though, about his life, his music... He hadn't asked anything in return, but she felt she wanted to share something more with him.

"My mom died last year," she said. "And it wasn't some big conspiracy, part of a bigger picture, no. She was just doing her job and she died saving people. And I know, I know everyone says that Shadowhunters die young and that I should move on with my life-"

"Wait, people have actually said that to you?" Luke stopped abruptly looking at her with an incredulous expression.

Julie stopped beside him, trying to keep level headed. She didn't want to drown in the darkness again. "Not to my face," she eventually said, "and not the people who actually care about me, but you know, there are a lot of assholes out there..." She gave an awkward chuckle, willing her eyes not to tear up.

"Julie," Luke said, his voice soft as he stepped closer to her, "we're Shadowhunters yeah, but first and foremost we're human. You can't just turn grief off. It's hard and it's painful, but you rely on the people who care about you to guide you through. As long as it takes."

Julie's attempt to not cry wasn't going so well as she bit back a sob and moved in wrapping her arms around Luke. She felt his arms instinctively going around her too as he held her tight.

"You're wiser than you look," she said with a small chuckle through the tears.

"I have my moments," he said making her laugh again.

She pulled back looking at him and wiping the tears off her face. She didn't feel awkward as she thought she would, it's not like she'd known him for long, but in all those moments they'd had together... They'd clicked.

"This is not how my patrols usually go," she said.

"Mine neither, Alex and Reggie don't like to admit I'm amazing," Luke said, signature smile being permanently etched on his face.

"I never said you're amazing," Julie deadpaned.

"The sentiment was there." He nodded his head waving his hand out as they started walking again. Julie just rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Not that she was annoyed after everything.

"You know, I-" she started to say when she breathed in sharply. Adrenaline run through her veins all of a sudden while despair settled in the pit of her stomach, the pull towards somewhere, someone else becoming far more frantic than usual.

"What's wrong?" Luke searched her face worried.

"Flynn," she said as she took off running, trusting he would follow. They'd all been out today, her with Luke, Alex with Reggie and Flynn with Carrie, covering different sections of the city, but still staying close. Julie always felt more at ease with Flynn in close proximity, the parabatai bond ever present, but they were still learning about the city. Throwing them out in the open like that was bound to become confusing. Yet now Flynn needed her and she felt like she wasn't close enough.

Following her instincts blindly she ran through the alleys until they reached a dead end where they found the girls. Surrounded by a horde of demons. It almost made Julie feel overwhelmed, if only just for a second. Had someone left a portal open to Edom somewhere? Were the four of them supposed to take them all down by themselves?

Of course they were.

Wasting no time, Julie unwrapped the whip off her wrist and aimed for the one closest to Flynn, wrapping it around its body and squeezing until he disappeared in a splash of ichor. Her and Luke threw themselves into the fight, helping with everything they had.

Julie was standing back to back with Flynn, feeling more in sync with her and everything around her, but at the same time realizing they were vastly outnumbered. She ducked her head on instinct just as Flynn spun around throwing a knife into the demon in front of her, burrying itself in its empty eye socket, while Carrie moved in from behind it and passed her seraph blade through it, lighting it up.

Julie's whip was lashing all around her, aiming in seconds and tearing apart the demons' bodies as much as she could. They were gaining in on them, their contributions to the fight seemingly making little to no difference.

Just as Julie brought the whip back and was about to hit the one in front of her, she realized she was a second too late and braced for impact. It never came though. Just as the demon lunged for her, an arrow pierced right through it, throwing it back.

Julie turned around looking for the archer, but only saw Alex running in the fight and taking his place next to Luke. She knew Reggie was standing close as the arrows kept falling, each of them finding their target. Trusting him enough to not hit her, she kept moving freely in the battlefield.

"You're late," she heard Luke shouting over the chaos.

"You're welcome," Alex answered as he moved one of his daggers, cutting of the demon's head. "We called for backup as soon as we were close," he added.

Backup, yes, that could make a difference. How long could they hold out though before it started getting tougher on them? Reggie's and Alex's contributions definitely made a difference, but it didn't seem to discourage the creatures at all.

 _Backup is on the way, it's going to be fine_ , she repeated to herself as she cut through a demon behind Carrie and noticed Reggie joining the fight beside her, now with a seraph blade in hand.

She felt Flynn's fear before she'd even turned around. She was cornered on the wall, trying to fight her way through, but getting no exit. Julie didn't even have to think about it as she ran over to her, working on pure adrenaline. She hacked and sliced through the demons, covering her gear with even more ichor as she desperately tried to give Flynn an out. 

Flynn reacted as fast as Julie was there, covering the spots Julie missed and giving herself the upper hand against the creatures once more. Just as the last one dropped, Julie was able to exhale for the first time ever since they'd gotten there, knowing though that it was far from over. She took a step forward to join the rest of the fight when pain pierced through her side making her groan. Her hand flew over to where the wound was, coming back covered in blood, dirt and ichor. It couldn't have been too serious, no demon had pierced through her, but even as a graze it fucking hurt.

Flynn pulled her back, stele already in hand as she drew an iratze on her neck. The pain started easing up and she supposed the wound was closing, but before she could let the rune do its job and throw herself back into the fight to help the others, something changed.

The guys fell down, all within milliseconds of each other, but Luke and Alex were the only ones who cried in pain. Julie's heart plummeted in her chest, but was immediately thrown back when they both got up, seemingly unscathed - as much as they could be after everything. They still looked terrified though as if almost paralyzed.

That's when Julie realized. They'd gotten up.

Reggie hadn't.


	11. Just One Second

Alex and Reggie hadn't been that much further away from the others, but they hadn't realized what was going on until after a few seconds.

_The iratze won't work, there's poison in the wound!_

They'd run and had been in the right mind to call for backup before it was too late and they were too wrapped up in the fight.

_What do we do?_

Reggie had stayed back, arrows flying all around, covering them as much as he could. After a while he'd joined in, Alex wasn't sure if he was out of arrows or he'd just assessed he would be more help from up close, but he didn't have time to ask. When he'd been cornered and a seraph blade went through one of the demons revealing Reggie behind it, he was just grateful.

_He's bleeding out!_

His body had reacted before his brain could catch up because just as the demon pierced through Reggie's torso, Alex fell to the ground with a cry of pain. And so had Luke a few feet away. Reggie hadn't made a sound.

_He's not breathing!_

And everything else had been a blur. Backup. The demons were finally gone. They were back in the Institute. There was a Silent Brother there. 

Alex couldn't feel anything. 

And then suddenly he could feel everything.

He didn't even think he was in control anymore, one second he was inside the Institute in the infirmary corridor and the next he was outside next to the front door, gasping for air. There must have been more people inside with him, right? Yes, he hadn't been alone, there must-

 _Luke_.

Oh God, Luke, he couldn't keep doing this, he would break down.

And Reggie. He wasn't- He couldn't-

Alex must have slid down at some point because he was no longer standing up. He kept his legs close to his chest, his hands going through his hair, desperately wanting something to do with them, needing something to keep them busy, to keep them from shaking.

He thought he might have been crying, he wasn't sure, all he heard was static. He knew he had to slow his breathing down, he had to take a second and breathe out, but he couldn't find it in him. He needed something to focus on before he completely lost it.

"Alex!" he heard his name and flinched at the sound. Someone moved closer to him, making him feel even more caged in than he already did. He was breathing, but it wasn't right. There was too much air and not enough.

Whoever it was must have noticed something because they took a couple of steps back. Close, but not too close.

"Alex, hey, it's Julie," she said in a soft, quiet voice. Julie. He really liked Julie.

And Alex couldn't speak. And he didn't know if it was the minimal air that was going through his lungs or the panic attack that was paralyzing him, but he needed Julie to understand. Julie didn't know and how could she know? He needed someone who knew.

"I-" he gasped. One word, one name, but his body wasn't co-operating.

He tried to take a deep breath, failing spectacularly, but he saw his chance and made a break for it. 

"Carrie."

"Carrie, okay, I'll go get her," Julie said keeping her voice level and Alex had no idea how she was doing this, but he thought somewhere through the haze of everything that he was grateful.

He'd been aware, he was always aware, he must have taken his eyes away for a second, this couldn't be happening. Reggie was standing there and he was fine and God, he could still feel the pain in his chest and it just worked to make breathing harder and harder and then Reggie was down and he was bleeding and the pain was still there and Reggie wasn't breathing and Alex couldn't breathe and Reggie was dying, _he was dying, he was dying, he was-_

Something was pushed inside his hands and he clutched on them like a lifeline. He felt the familiar burning of a stele on the base of his throat and then there was suddenly air and he could breathe and he was gasping, his body trying to make up for lack thereof.

He was holding the drumsticks in his hands, his knuckles turning white from the intensity, but they were the only things keeping him grounded at the moment. He started spinning one in his hand, his head too hazy to follow or realize the movement, but his hands were busy, they had something to do, somewhere to focus on, they were moving.

He let a few seconds, or minutes go by trying to regulate his breathing, the rune definitely helping, but not eliminating his situation completely. He closed his eyes and once he felt like not everything was closing in on him, he caught both drumsticks in one hand and held his other hand out to his left. Within seconds, Carrie had settled beside him on the ground, snaking her arm around him and pulling him closer. Alex put his head on her shoulder melting on her side, breathing heavily.

Carrie's hand was on his hair which must have been covered in ichor and dirt as was his gear and his daggers and as was Carrie too. There was something else there too and it was red and it was glistening in the night and Alex could not look down, he couldn't let himself look down.

"We need to change," he said staring at a random spot beside the Institute's gates.

"We should," Carrie agreed, but made no move to get up or pull away from Alex.

Carrie had found him having a panic attack for the first time three years ago, only a couple of months after she'd arrived in the Institute. Luke and Reggie hadn't been around at that particulat moment and Alex was spiraling and she'd just done all the right things. They'd gotten exponentially closer after that, especially after Alex came out to his parents and practically moved into the Institute.

"Luke?" Alex asked.

"He's with Julie," she answered her hand still going through his hair.

"Any news?"

"Not yet."

Alex let out a shaky breath. The pain in his chest had eased, but it was still there, reminding him.

"I screwed up," he said.

"You saved my fucking life," Carrie said without changing her position or the tone of her voice.

"What?" Alex asked confused, his hands clutching and unclutching the drumsticks, spinning them through his fingers every once in a while.

"You had four demons in front of you and instead you turned around and threw one dagger at the one behind me. I hadn't even had time to notice it coming for me. I got the dagger back when we left by the way," Carried said. Alex hadn't even realized how they'd gotten back home much less that he was probably missing one of two daggers.

"I need to keep an eye out for all of you," he said.

"I know, but you can't be everywhere at the same time."

"It was just a second. Just one second, Carrie," he said his voice breaking at her name.

"Sometimes that's all it takes for someone to get hurt," she said frank as ever. She wasn't going to lie to him and he didn't want her to.

"He wasn't just hurt though," Alex protested, "what if it's like last time, what if he doesn't-"

"Don't go there," Carrie stopped him. "I know it's easy to just go through the worst case scenarios, but you can't put yourself through this. It won't be long until we know something for sure. Until then we wait."

"How can we just wait?" he said with a sob in the end. He was trying to keep himself from breaking down, what good was it going to do? No, he needed to stay strong, he needed to try and keep calm until they knew for sure, he couldn't just let all of the tension and the pain out, he couldn't, he shouldn't-

"Alex," Carrie's voice cut through everything as her hand fell from his hair to his arm, going up and down. "I'm here for you, I'm not going anywhere."

"I know," Alex said quietly, willing his voice not to break.

"You can let it out."

Alex wasn't sure if it was the particular words or just the fact that he'd reached his breaking point long ago and he couldn't keep it together anymore. He let the tears fall as he sobbed and cried against her shoulder.

***

Alex didn't know how long it'd been when he finally calmed down - relatively - and just sagged against Carrie's side. He wanted to go find Luke, he knew he wouldn't be any better, but he didn't know what kind of help he could be like this. He was afraid he was just going to make things worse. For the time being he had to trust that Julie was enough. It'd only been a couple of weeks, but the two of them seemed to have clicked. Whether it'd been the music or even something more... Alex didn't know yet.

"Hey," Carrie said as she nudged the shoulder he was leaning on slightly, "I think someone's here for you."

Alex looked up confused and followed her line of sight to the Institute gates to see a figure approaching fast. His night vision rune hadn't faded yet, so he could still spot him even through the darkness.

Carrie pulled her arm back, letting him get up. "Thank you," he said, his voice hoarse from the crying and just the overall exhaustion.

Carrie reached for his hand and he helped her get up too. She gave it a squeeze. "You never have to thank me," she said with a small, warm smile as she turned to go back inside.

Alex was vaguely aware of what he looked like and maybe under any different circumstances he'd be freaking out, but now he couldn't find it in himself to care even a little bit. He climbed down the steps and all but run to the gates, opening them.

Before he could say anything, there were arms around him again, holding him tight. As much as he wanted to avoid touch before, he now craved it. He needed someone to keep him grounded in the here and now.

"You're okay?" Willie asked pulling back and giving him a once over. Bad idea considering the ichor, demon guts, dirt and the... red stuff. Alex wasn't going to look down.

"I'm okay," Alex said his voice scratchy against his throat.

"One of the guys in the bar said shit went down on the other side of the city between some Shadowhunters and a bunch of demons. He said something must have been terribly wrong because there were so many of you and then someone didn't-"

"We don't know, yet," Alex cut him off not wanting to hear what the end of that sentence would be. "He was- It was Reggie," he said trying to ignore the way his breath got caught in his throat. "We don't know what's going on yet. There's uhm, a Silent Brother here, so that's... that's good."

Willie looked at him with a sad smile and pulled him into a hug again. Alex hugged him back, closing his eyes and relishing in the feeling for a few seconds. Maybe he could just stay there for a while. He could stay there and then everything would eventually be okay again.

"What do you need?" Willie asked without letting him go.

And Alex just breathed out, burrying his face in the crook of his neck. It was grounding. He was in the here and now and even if everything had gone to hell and even if they still didn't know what was going on and even if he hadn't felt this kind of pain in so long, right at that moment he had someone holding him steady. First Carrie, now Willie. He was there.

"Just..." he said wrapping his arms even tighter around him. "Just hold me."


	12. You Don't Really Like Quiet

_Luke ran outside in the middle of the night wanting to scream, but no sound getting out. He couldn't process what had happened, he wasn't even sure he understood what had just happened._

_Had he done something wrong? Had he wronged someone? Had he somehow turned the whole fucking universe against him? Because this couldn't keep happening, he couldn't keep going like this. He was fifteen, how many more people could he lose?_

_"Luke?" he heard a voice and turned around still in a state of shock._

_"What is happening?" Luke asked for lack of better words._

_"Luke, his injuries were too-"_

_"No, no," Luke stopped him holding a hand out. "_ Why _is this happening? Why does this keep happening, Julian?" he said his voice breaking at his brother's name. It wasn't fair of him to expect an answer, Julian had lost just as many people as Luke had, he'd grieved just as much as they had. Well, maybe not as much. Because if Julian was grieving who was going to take care of everything? No, Julian had thrown all his focus on raising his siblings, he hadn't given himself as much time as he needed to grieve._

_But this... This was different. Things had been good. And this had just come out of nowhere just enough to knock everyone off balance and have them scramble for a lifeline, anything that would help them make sense of what was happening._

_So, no it wasn't fair to ask Julian why, but who else could he ask? He wasn't a kid anymore, he knew his brother didn't have the answers to everything, but right then he felt like a child again. And he needed someone to responsibly explain to him why the universe hated the Blackthorns so much._

_"It's not fair, Julian," he said trying to wrap his mind around it, "it's not. How is it even- Why?" He would always return back to the original question. "With mom and dad and Livvy and uncle Arthur and even Mark and Helen! One day they were here, the next they were gone and for what? Stupid laws, stupid policies and bigotry within the Clave!" And yes, Mark and Helen had come back, but they shouldn't have disappeared in the first place!_

_"And now this?" he asked again his voice getting louder. "How is it fair? This wasn't how things were supposed to go, I was done! No one else gets to die after Livvy. No. And this? What the fuck even is this?" he shouted._

_Julian wasn't talking, letting him finish with everything he had to say first. Good, because there were things that needed to be said._

_"Bobby was not supposed to die."_

_He just wasn't. No, they were supposed to carry on, the four of them like that, Luke, Alex, Reggie and Bobby. There was a plan, they had a future. And Luke was never much of a planner, but some things had been set from early on. They'd met when they were seven, they all studied together, they trained together, they were practically growing up together. The guys were his brothers just as much as Julian or Mark or Ty or Tavvy were. He couldn't lose any more people. They were his family._

_It'd always been the four of them, things couldn't just change now. No, not if Luke had a say in it._

_But that was the thing, wasn't it? Luke didn't have a say in it._

_"There was a plan, Julian," he said, his anger slowly dissipating to despair and sadness._

_It'd always been the four of them. Having each other's backs, watching out, fighting together, taking care of each other, it was just how things were. Alex and Luke were going to be parabatai, just like Reggie and Bobby, matching their fighting techniques a bit better, because honestly? It really could have gone either way._

_And they'd waited even though they could have already gone through with the ritual. Too much political unrest in the Shadow World last year, a lot of issues that needed to be taken care of. It was okay, they still had time, they could wait. And they did._

_If he was being honest? Luke was glad they hadn't already gone through with it because if he had to see Reggie losing not just one of his best friends but also his parabatai at that? No, just no._

_Not that it was better now, they all still grieved the same but the lack of the actual angelic connection had definitely been a blessing and Luke couldn't see it any other way._

_He didn't want to scream. He wanted to lie down and just not get up for a while. No noise, no music, no nothing. He wanted quiet._

_"I can't keep losing people," he said his voice sounding so broken in his own ears he almost flinched._

_Julian moved forward picking the right moment to pull him into a hug. Luke's arms instantly flew around him as he felt the tears fall. And it was a myster but also common knowledge that Julian knew exactly what needed to be done. He wouldn't lie if you asked him, he'd say he had no fucking clue. He'd say that he'd been twelve when their whole world crumbled to pieces and he had no idea what he'd been doing or how they'd all made it this far. But no one cared because he knew exactly what he was doing even if he was just going by instinct._

_"It's gonna hurt," Julian said, "a lot. Some things are going to change, but you're going to be okay. All three of you are going to be okay."_

_And Luke couldn't just run with that, not at that point, but he had faith in Julian. He'd never lied to him. They eventually had to all be okay._

Luke felt like he was reliving his worst nightmare. All he could do was stare blankly at the wall and hope he would wake up soon. Because this couldn't possibly be happening, no. No, it had happened once with Bobby four years ago, but that was in the past. It was four years ago and they were all okay now, so no, this wasn't happening. He was not in denial, this was just not actually happening. 

He didn't even know how long he'd been there, it could have been seconds it could have been hours, time had stopped for him the second he'd felt that pain through his chest and he was desperately trying to find the start button again. Maybe staring at the wall would help.

He distantly heard a knock on the door, but didn't even bother answering. He knew Alex would be with Carrie because they couldn't help each other right now, not with Alex probably having a panic attack and Luke disassociating. One would end up putting his feelings on hold for the other because these two situations did not intertwine at all and that was only going to make things worse. He trusted Carrie with Alex, they understood each other. So when the knock came, he couldn't think of anyone he wanted to talk to and he didn't care.

"Luke?"

Luke's heard turned towards the door only because of the surprise at her entrance. "Julie?" he said confused. Julie. Julie was great, she was incredible, what was she doing there?

"Carrie told me that I would probably find you here," she said quietly as she approached him. When he kept looking at her surprised and confused, she decided it was cool to sit down beside him.

At any given moment in his life, Luke would run to the music room, it'd been a safe haven for a while and not just for him. Alex and Reggie didn't have great home lives. Reggie's parents were always at odds with each other resulting in many nights spent in the Institute, many jam sessions and Reggie just getting closer and closer with the rest of his family. Julian had a lot in his mind, probably even more than Luke was aware of, but he'd never turned Reggie away. Yes, Luke's family was not what people would call conventional, but he'd never missed anything. He'd been raised with love and even when things were difficult, he'd never been alone. For Luke a loving family had always been a given. He hadn't realized not everyone got that.

Julian understood the importance of a stable home. So if Reggie wanted to stay in the Institute he was always welcomed, as was any Shadowhunter for that matter, but the situation there was different and Julian knew it. He'd been more of a father figure to Reggie than his own dad had been especially after Bobby died. 

Alex was a little different. His family was great. Typical Shadowhunter family, fighting demons, upholding their name's legacy, gushing about their perfect son. Luke thought everything was cool. Yes, Alex would spend a lot of days at the Institute but not out of need, they were just all having fun together, or they needed to train, study... Things were good.

Alex had come out to him when they were fourteen and again, Luke was starting to realize how different his family life was from everyone else's. It was no secret that Shadowhunters were more cut off from mundane culture and issues. Luke had always loved going through music, spending endless time looking up songs and whatnot, but that's where his research ended. They were pretty much the only ones who lived in the Institute permanently and he hadn't come in contact with that many Shadowhunters yet. So yeah, when Alex had told him he was gay, he hadn't realized it was a big deal. Their Consul was gay. Helen was married to Aline, Mark was in a relationship with Cristina and Kieran, Ty was dating Kit and Julian was with Emma. You just like who you like. Cool.

Turns out, not everyone shared the same belief. And Alex was panicking so much over keeping it a secret from his parents and everyone else up to then, his anxiety had started spiking at new levels. The first time he'd seen him having a panic attack he'd freaked out himself. Who had known what to do? Julian. How? Luke had stopped asking that question a long time ago, he just went with it. Maybe it was because Ty had anxiety too, maybe it was just his natural dad instincts taking over. And so Alex started spending more time in the Institute as well, the drums helping out with the anxiety big time. And then after coming out to his parents he basically moved in full time and Julian was in New York, but he'd come home earlier to make sure everything was okay.

So yes, the music room was their safe haven, but Julian was the reason they'd been taken care of. So at that moment, when Luke couldn't accept the situation before him and didn't have a big brother to go to, he'd set camp in the corner of his big brother's bedroom. Sitting on the floor, staring at the wall.

"Talk to me," Julie said.

"About what?" Luke asked still genuinely confused. Why was Julie there?

"Luke, you're sitting here eerily calm staring at a wall. That's... you're not okay," Julie said hesitantly as if approaching a scared animal. She slowly reached over waiting to see if Luke would move away or reject her, but he didn't so he caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. "This is really happening."

"No, I-"

"Luke," Julie cut him off looking straight into his eyes, her voice still calm and soft, but much too commanding. "This is real," she said again. "And I know it hurts too much, so please until we know something more don't try to take this on all on your own."

"No, it's not- I'm not trying to do anything. This is just not fair."

"I know," Julie said and maybe on some level she did, she'd lost her mom last year and she was still working to move on, but she didn't know about Luke.

"I told you my mom passed away when I was four," Luke said before he could stop himself. "My dad died when I was six during the Dark war, my sister was killed when I was eleven as was my uncle and I mean I barely even knew the guy. My brother Mark was taken by the Wild Hunt and my sister Helen was basically exiled and the Clave didn't do anything because they're half faerie. And you know," he said with a humorless chuckle, "they came back five years later under much too complicated circumstances but I remember thinking, hey, that's new!"

He was getting into dangerous territory, but now he had started and he couldn't find it in himself to stop. "I met the guys when we were seven and we were inseparable. Reggie, Alex, Bobby and me. We studied together and we trained and we had each other's backs through everything. Reggie's and Alex's family lives weren't exactly great, but we had each other and we had the Institute and it was okay. I was gonna be parabatai with Alex and Reggie with Bobby and everything was going to be great," Luke said putting emphasis on the _great_ , passing the hand Julie wasn't holding through his hair trying to calm himself down.

"So when we were fifteen Bobby died," he said with a gasp, "and you know, it was just like you said. No big conspiracy, no bigger picture, just demons and bad timing. Alex and I didn't want to go through with the parabatai ritual after that. It had always been the four of us, it made sense to divide two and two together, but it just didn't feel right anymore. We couldn't just do this and keep Reggie out of it. It wasn't going to really change anything because there'd always been a connection, you know? Between all of us and strengthening just the one part after everything did not feel right. Because I would fucking die, Julie, for both of them with no hesitation. And I can feel them both around me in the battlefield and God, I can still feel the pain in my chest even though it makes no sense! We've always been there for each other! So, this? Reggie getting impaled and fighting for his life? This is not fucking fair!"

Julie didn't say anything and it's not like Luke expected her to. This was too much to lay on anyone and honestly? He wouldn't blame her if she just found an excuse and left.

He wasn't surprised when she let go of his hand. He was surprised though when she used the same hand to cup his face and wipe a tear away with her thumb. He hadn't even realized he was crying.

He lifted his eyes to look at her, his eyebrows furrowing. Her eyes were glistening with tears, but her expression was still soft. "This is not okay," she said quietly.

It wasn't anything profound and it wasn't anything new. Maybe Luke had been in denial keeping in his emotional state for lack of a better alternative. But Julie staying there and just listening to him...

"No," he said his voice breaking. He felt a sob ripping through his body and before he could think about it, he fell into Julie's arms. She didn't hesitate to wrap them around him and bring him closer. There was one hand going through his hair, his head laying on Julie's chest while she tucked her own on top of his.

He cried and cried and he had no idea how much time had passed but it was suddenly quiet again. Too quiet. And Reggie wasn't dead, no. Luke didn't want quiet.

 _"In times that I doubted myself..."_ Julie as if on instinct started singing softly. Her voice was low, like a lullaby, but Luke recognized the rhythm. _"I felt like I needed somе help_."

This was his song, she was singing his song. His unfinished song.

_"Stuck in my head with nothing left..."  
_

Had she written lyrics for his song?

_"I feel somеthing around me now_   
_So unclear, lifting me out_   
_I found the ground I'm marching on..."_

Luke's mind had gone blank. 

_"Life is a risk, but we will take it_   
_Close my eyes and jump_   
_Together, I think that we can make it_   
_C'mon let's run..."_

She kept humming the refrain until she reached the bridge and slowly faded out. Luke raised his head to look at her, his mouth open in surprise. "You- You wrote lyrics for my song?"

"I was playing around with something," she said with a small smile, her arm still around him. "Sometimes I get an idea for a melody or a lyric or something and I can't get it out of my head until I write it down. You don't have to keep them, obviously, it's your song, but it was too quiet and I've noticed you don't really like quiet."

And Luke would have literally started crying again right there and then if it wasn't for the frantic knock on the door. His blood ran cold and he instinctively caught Julie's hand right in front of him.

"Yes?" Julie called out and the door bursted open to reveal Flynn.

"Brother Enoch is leaving," she said.

"He's leaving? What do you mean he's leaving?" Luke snapped back into reality faster than expected and scrambled to get up.

"He said Reggie's gonna be okay. Will probably sleep it off for a while, but he's gonna be okay."

_He's gonna be okay._

Luke was on the move before he'd even processed Flynn's words. He ran out of the room and down the corridor, practically flying down the stairs. He took a left heading to the infirmary and just as he entered the right hallway - or well, slid into it almost crushing to the wall due to his momentum - he saw Alex. He looked just as bad as he did, but he was relieved, that much was obvious.

Luke ran right into him, engulfing him in a hug, the only reason they didn't crash to the ground, Alex knowing Luke well enough and having learnt to maintain his balance whenever he jumped onto him.

"Are we okay?" Alex asked him without pulling back.

"Yeah," Luke said as a chuckle escaped him, "yeah we're okay." Luke would be there for Alex and Reggie in heartbeat and so would they, he knew that. Just like that, they knew when they weren't in their right mind to be of help to each other, but they would always make sure there was someone around who could help. And they would always come back to each other to make sure everything was okay.

"We should change before we go in," Alex said as Luke pulled back to look at him. They both looked like hell and he didn't miss the way Alex just wouldn't look down. He also didn't miss the almost completely faded rune on his neck. Ever since they'd figured out the Breathing Under Duress rune worked for panic attacks Luke had perfected it and drawn it more times than he could count.

"Yeah." Luke nodded with a smile dropping his hand to catch Alex's and pulled him with him. "Come on."


	13. You Each Found Two

Reggie stirred on the bed, his face scrunching up against the light coming from somewhere around him. He must have moved slightly without even realizing it because pain shoot through him making his breath hitch. His eyelids still felt heavy, but he decided to at least try and open his eyes. The last thing he remembered... well, it was not exactly fun. He needed to know that everyone else was okay too.

He could feel something touching him on his right arm just as over his legs. Okay, that didn't make much sense, he needed his sight back.

Blinking against the light and trying to get used to it, he opened his eyes and recognized the Institute's infirmary. Well, he could have guessed as much. What made him smile fondly though were the two weights against him.

On his right was Alex, signature pink hoodie on, sitting beside the bed with his arms crossed on it. He must have probably fallen asleep on them at some point, but they way he'd moved around he was mostly using Reggie's bicep as a pillow. Luke was on his left, sleeping on his side on another chair, his mouth slightly ajar, with his legs sprawled out on Reggie's bed, one of them over Reggie's own. They both looked okay, so that was definitely a relief and from what he could tell there was no one else on any of the other beds. The girls were okay too.

Speak of the devil, the door opened as quietly as possible, disturbing none of the boys in their slumber and Carrie poked her head inside. "Hey," she said quietly when she noticed he was awake. She came in closer looking at the three of them with an amused smile, shaking her head. "You're comfortable? I don't think you're supposed to have two boys sleeping on you."

"They're fine," Reggie said with a smile. his voice hoarse.

"Well, they haven't slept in three days, this is probably good for them," she said looking at Luke and Alex who hadn't so much as moved.

"Three days?" Reggie questioned.

"The iratzes weren't working, there was poison in the wound. You were bleeding out a bit, so Brother Enoch came to help fix you up," she explained, "said you were going to sleep it off for a while."

"Bleeding out a bit?" Reggie looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Carrie wasn't one for sugarcoating things, but she had a nice way of putting it all out in the open too.

"Well, there's still blood in you so you're fine," she said moving her hand in dismissal. "You want anything? Flynn and I made breakfast."

"Yes, thank you," he said. Breakfast did sound good and he apparently hadn't eaten in three days.

Carrie gave him a finger gun and moved to leave, but not before looking at the three of them, smiling to herself. "You three are so lucky," she said.

"What do you mean?" Reggie asked confused. 

"A lot of people don't even get one parabatai. You each found two," she said nonchalantly as she walked back to the door leaving them alone again and Reggie looking after her. Parabatai had always been a sore subject for Reggie. Especially this past month.

His arm had started falling asleep under Alex, so he tried to move around slightly without waking him up. It was working up until Alex stirred a bit moving one of his arms blindly in front of him and brushing past wherever Reggie's wound was - he definitely remembered getting impaled, but he was still a little hazy on the exact details - making him hiss in pain and bend one of his legs back curling into himself.

Their reactions were instantaneous, Alex shooting up on his chair wide awake, as did Luke, only he didn't have his feet on the ground to keep his balance resulting in him falling on the floor.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Alex started to say while Luke jumped right back up shouting, "Reggie!" in the puppy dog excitement Luke was known for and almost went in for a hug when Alex shot his hand out towards him shouting, "No!"

"Did I hurt you? Are you okay?" Alex panicked again as he looked up and down at Reggie.

"Alex, it's okay, I'm fine," Reggie tried to reassure him but both boys were reeling.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty? Hot? Cold? Do you need a blanket?" Luke started going through questions not giving him enough time to actually answer.

"You think you can spare him a second between each question to give you an answer?" Alex turned to him.

"There are so many questions!" Luke raised his hands exasperated.

"Guys, I really am fine," Reggie tried to say again and thankfully got their attention that time.

Luke fell back on his chair with a relieved sigh and moved it even closer to the bed. "You scared us," he said.

"I'm sor-" Reggie started to say, but Alex cut him off.

"Nope, that's not why he said it, don't finish that sentence." He held his hand out towards Reggie warning him.

"But I-"

"No, we don't do the whole 'self-blaming' shit here," he said.

"You constantly blame yourself about everything!" Luke interjected looking at Alex.

"That's different," Alex said. "Reggie's not allowed to blame himself about anything."

"That can't be true..." Reggie said.

"How about, and I'm just spitballing here, we all stop blaming ourselves for things that are out of our control and focus on the fact that we're here and fine? Because I, for once, I'm grateful," Luke said and Reggie noticed again how he was almost about to launch himself at him, but remembering how painful that would be, Luke opted for hugging his arm instead, making Reggie chuckle.

"I'm just glad you're all okay," Reggie said.

"And we're glad that you're okay," Alex pointed out. "I mean by the Angel, Reggie, that thing hurt."

"What do you mean?" Reggie asked confused as he looked at Alex. There were no visible wounds and he seemed to be moving around with ease, he wasn't hurt. Neither was Luke for that matter or else falling on the floor would have hurt much much more.

"Getting impaled by a demon," Luke explained. "Not really fun."

"But..." Reggie started again looking in between them trying to make sense of it. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, _you_ were," Alex said.

Reggie could still not make sense of anything. "I'm missing something here, aren't I?"

"You and your denial..." Luke shook his head with a small smile.

"Remember a couple of years ago? When I broke my arm?" Alex asked him.

"Yeah." Reggie nodded his head. Alex hadn't been bothered as much having almost become amphidextrous by that point. He used two daggers while fighting, favoring both sides and keeping the balance in between. It was why drumming had worked so well for him, both hands were working almost the same way, moving around and applying pressure. Even with a broken right arm, there weren't much he couldn't do with his left.

"Remember how mad Luke was at me for like a week?"

"I have one thing, dude," Luke said almost pouting.

"He couldn't play," Reggie recalled with ease. Of course he remembered, Luke had been restless, having too much energy and nothing to put it into. He couldn't play the guitar because every time he struck the chords sharp pains would go through his arm making it unbearable. He'd been blaming Alex who had 'gone ahead and let his arm get broken' while Alex defended that 'getting his arm snapped in half by a vampire had not been his first choice' until the pain dulled down and Luke could play again.

"What does that have to do with this? With me?" Reggie asked making them both close their eyes with a sigh.

"Dude, you're aware you couldn't hit a single target for that same week right?" Luke said. "Like, you almost shot me with an arrow when you barely ever miss. Unless I was your target in the first place which I really hope I wasn't."

"But I..." Reggie started to say when he thought back to it. He remembered feeling the ache up and down his arm every time he'd pulled the string back on his bow and tried to aim straight ahead. He remembered suddenly panicking when he couldn't hit the center of any of the targets out of nowhere, but he'd tried to shake it off and everything went back to normal after that week so he figured he was just off his game for some reason. It happens.

"We're not parabatai," he eventually said guilt slowly creeping up inside him again.

"So?" Alex said with a shrug.

"So it doesn't make sense for me to feel your pain," he said. "Or for either of you to feel mine for that matter."

"So? Luke said with another shrug, now leaning on the bed with his head on his hands.

"So you shouldn't have to suffer because I do," Reggie instinctively said immediately regretting it. He'd been doing well this past month, hiding his true feelings on the matter just to let something slip while he couldn't even run away to avoid the conversation?

_Come on, Reggie._

"Well, I shouldn't have to let my guitar get dusty because Alex decided to break his arm, but it wasn't up to me," Luke said.

Alex was about to protest about the 'decided' part when Reggie intervened. "It's not the same."

Alex's head turned back to him. "I knew it," he said, "I knew you've been acting weird ever since my birthday."

"I haven't," Reggie protested weakly but didn't convince anyone.

"Reggie, we've talked about this so many times..." Luke said.

"Great, so we don't have to talk about it again."

"No, apparently we do, because the guilt and self-deprecation is rolling off of you in waves," Alex retorted. 

"Alex..." Luke said, seeing him starting to get worked up while Reggie had literally just woken up.

"No, Luke, I'm not gonna chill until I can get it through his head that we love and care about him," Alex said.

"I never said that you don't love or care about me-" Reggie started to say.

"Just not as much as Luke and I love and care about each other?" Alex finished for him with a raised eyebrow as he sighed tiredly and leaned back on his chair.

No one talked for a couple of seconds until Reggie broke the silence. "You just shouldn't have to change your whole lives because of me," he said quietly.

"Okay," Alex said as he leaned back closer to the bed, "I, Alex Lightwood, was not pressured by anyone and with a clear mind and conscience made the decision that I didn't want to go through with the parabatai ritual after Bobby died four years ago. I second guess almost every decision I've ever taken in my life, but never this one. Luke?" he asked as he looked over at him on the other side of the bed.

"And I, Luke Blackthorn, cannot be pressured by anyone to do anything I don't like and also came to the realization that I didn't want to go through with the parabatai ritual after Bobby died four years ago. I do not ever second guess anything and this hasn't really been an exception," Luke said.

"I cannot imagine my life without either of you," Alex said, his voice softer this time, "which is how I know it was the right decision. It just- It wouldn't be right to favorite someone over the other and it would only work to make me feel weird and more anxious and I'm already anxious about everything in my life except for this," he said pointing between the three of them, "so you cannot take away the one good thing I have, okay? Okay," he answered his own question taking hold of Reggie's hand in his own.

Reggie looked at him his breath catching in his throat. "And you're not supposed to make me cry right after I almost died," he said with a small chuckle, wiping a tear that trailed down his face. 

Reggie had waited for them to change their minds. Ever since they'd announced that they weren't going through with the parabatai ritual Reggie had waited for them to give in and actually do it, it wasn't fair of him to expect them to not do it and he would never want them to give it up because of him. And then Reggie turned nineteen and he thought, okay, this was over for him, maybe Luke and Alex would just go ahead with it in these couple of months they had until Alex's birthday, but they still didn't. And then Alex was nineteen and it was over. Alex and Luke would never be parabatai and Reggie couldn't help but feel it was his fault. Even if nothing had ever changed between them, even if they treated each other the exact same way, even in - for all intents and purposes - they already acted as if they were each other's parabatai.

How had Carrie put it before she left? _A lot of people don't even get one parabatai. You each found two._

Maybe even three. Bobby was gone, but they still thought about him and missed him to this day. There were a lot of good memories to go through.

"This is nice, we all love each other," Luke said snuggling up to Reggie's arm again making him chuckle slightly.

"You know," Reggie said looking at how both of them looked about to fall over him, "you can go back to sleep if you're tired."

"We're not tired," Luke said practically asleep on Reggie's arm the same way Alex was before.

"Carrie said you haven't slept in three days," he deadpaned.

"Whaaaat..." they both said their voices going an octave higher.

"Or, or," Alex said his eyes sparkling with mischief, "we can make fun of Luke for having a crush on Julie."

Luke made a noise of protest against Reggie's arm as he raised his head to look at them. "Why would you make fun of me about that?"

"Wow, he's not even denying it, I've missed so much," Reggie said turning to look at Alex.

"Right?" Alex said. "Also, to answer your question, I spent a month with you going off over my head about Willie. This is just me repaying the favor."

"Dude, she wrote lyrics for my song!" Luke emphasized every word. "You have any idea what that means?"

"That _Bright_ is gonna be the song you dance at at your wedding?" Reggie asked.

"They're not gonna dance in their wedding, they're gonna do a love duet," Alex said, "he literally gets heart eyes every time he looks at her."

"Haha," Luke said with a scowl, "I hope you're aware that I hate you both."

"You just said you loved us," Reggie said with a smile.

"It's a love-hate relationship because you're both idiots," he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"We're all idiots, dude, get with the program," Alex said.

"Yes, Luke, concentrate," Reggie agreed making them both laugh while Luke rolled his eyes trying to hide his smile.

"You will not be invited to my wedding," he said not doing much to stop the laughing. And yes, maybe laughing wasn't exactly helping Reggie with the physical pain, but really, it'd been a while since he'd actually felt this relaxed.


	14. We All Talk About You Two Behind Your Backs

The Institute had gone back to its regular rhythms over these past couple of weeks - well, as regular as it could get. Reggie was doing much better even from week number one, but he'd still not gone back out on the field which he thought was unecessary because he was fine, but the others - and mainly Alex - weren't letting him leave.

Julie and the others were still going around on patrols in the city, getting more back up than usual since demon activity had suddenly increased. Ever since the night Reggie had gotten hurt, it was almost as if there was a rift open somewhere in the city letting out more and more demons each time. They hadn't located anything and were too busy trying to keep everyone safe to carefuly look for the source of the problem. They had a last resolve if everything just kept on going downhill, but they were still keeping back, trying to contain the situation.

Needless to say they were all exhausted. Julie would come back, fall on her bed and the next time she blinked it was morning again, her whole body sore, her brain taking a bit longer to reboot. 

All through everything though, she got to spend time with her music again. The guys would spend a lot of time hanging out with Reggie, so the music room was - for once - empty and there just for her. She'd stayed with Reggie too who seemed to be doing better and almost as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Julie didn't know what had gone down, but she was happy to see him happy. Luke had beamed at her for her lyrics on his song and they'd even started working on the bridge, all four of them. It was something nice and simple to pass the time while Reggie was still stuck in the Institute.

"The melody is pretty much the same, we can just keep the first or second verse," Julie said sitting with her legs crossed on the foot of Reggie's bed looking down at the music sheets in front of her. The fact that she already had beautifully sounding piano chords and progressions in such little time astonishing her.

"I don't know, something doesn't work," Luke said from where he was lying on the floor right next to the bed as he stared intently at his notebook held over his head, as if the answer was going to miraculously reveal itself.

"You can put half of each to mix things up a bit," Reggie offered leaning against his headboard with his own notebook resting against his bent legs in front of him with the bass chords.

"Now, that's a nice idea, Reggie," Alex piped in from where he was sprawled on the couch on Luke's other side, next to the window. "Getting together," he said with a smile, "the lyrics."

Julie looked at Luke kicking Alex's leg that was dangling off the couch, but chose to ignore it. Maybe she was blushing a little too, who was she to say.

It was undeniable that she and Luke had chemistry, but they hadn't had the time to do anything with it either. What with Reggie getting hurt and the demons increasing, their free time was diminishing. Maybe when they got a second to breathe...

"Oh, shit, I have to go," Alex said as he noticed at the time and got up.

"Tell Willie I like him better than you," Luke called after him.

"That's okay, I like him better than you too," Alex called back making both Julie and Reggie shake with laughter.

"You walked right into that one," Reggie said.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just focus on the song," Luke dismissed it as he sat up resting his notebook on the bed between Reggie and Julie. "Getting the verses togeher, I like that," he said softly as he looked up at Julie.

And yes, his expression was soft, but there was some kind of intensity behind it that made Julie's heart beat a little faster. They were still talking about the song, right? She wasn't so sure anymore...

"Yeah," she said hoping the curls falling in front of her face were enough to hide her blush. "Yeah, I like it too."

* * *

Julie was going through the same melody for a while now. It was something she'd started long ago, but had never really evolve it or did anything with it. Something was getting in the way, but she'd recently felt like she'd gotten unblocked. Almost as if the chords were flowing through her, creating the song, giving it character. So were the lyrics... And she dreaded the moment she'd be going over it and Luke would walk in and realize the not so subtle meaning behind it. For the time being though she was alone.

She stopped with a sigh. She hadn't felt this free or content in a while. Sure, the multiple demons weren't great, but they were working through that as best as they could. Other than that... Los Angeles had been much better than she'd thought. She still missed her mom every day, but she also felt more connected to her. This, the piano, the music, everything, it was just... It was her.

She moved her hands through the keys in another familiar melody.

_"And I use the pain 'cause it's part of me  
And I'm ready to power through it  
Gonna find the strength, find the melody  
'Cause you showed me how to do it_

_Get up, get out, relight that spark_   
_You know the rest by heart._

_Wake up, wake up if it's all you do  
Look out, look inside of you  
It's not what you lost  
It's what you'll gain raising your voice in the rain  
Wake up your dream and make it true  
Look out, look inside of you  
It's not what you lost  
Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark  
Wake up..."_

The sound of applause suddenly broke her trance and she turned around knowing who she'd find there even before she even saw her.

"That was beautiful, Jules," Flynn said.

Julie moved over to the side so Flynn could come sit beside her on the bench. "Thank you," she said.

"I'd been waiting for you to come to me because I respect your privacy," Flynn said, Julie looking at her with an amused smile, "but I hadn't heard you sing in so long and I missed it so I thought to hell with privacy, she can be mad at me for a few seconds."

"I'm not mad at you," Julie said leaning into her side, "I just hadn't found the right time. This is kind of a big deal for me."

"I know," Flynn said, "I'm glad you got back to it. And that Luke is just so obsessed with music to bring it out of you," she added.

Julie chuckled. "He's really good you know. The guys too. Luke wants me to join their non existing band."

"Girl, with this voice?" Flynn looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "They're joining your band."

They laughed as Julie started messing around with the keys. 

"Wait, I remember that," Flynn said as Julie had absent mindedly started going a more familiar way. "You started that so long ago, but you never went through with it."

"Yeah, I don't know, it suddenly feels like it makes more sense now..." she said with a shrug.

"Right..." Flynn looked at her. "Any lyrics?"

"No..." Julie shook her head until it turned into a nod. "Yes?"

"Well let's hear it," Flynn said with a grin even though Julie knew she'd understood more than she was letting on. Who was she going to talk to about this though if not Flynn?

She started at the pre chorus and let the music fill her, the lyrics flowing out of her easily.

_"The truth is finally breaking through  
Two worlds collide when I'm with you  
Our voices rise and soar so high  
We come to life when we're  
In perfect harmony  
Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa  
Perfect harmony  
Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa  
Perfect harmony..."_

"That... That's beautiful," Flynn said still mesmerized, but she quickly looked at her with a smirk. "So you're coming to terms with your crush on Luke by writing him a love song, that's adorable."

"Whaaat." Julie chuckled awkwardly. "This is not about Luke. Luke's a friend."

"A cute friend," Flynn added.

"With a perfect smile." Julie sighed dreamily.

"Ha, I knew it!" Flynn pumped her fist in the air triumphantly. "Don't wait until we have to leave next year to do something though, okay? My heart won't be able to take the amount of tension between you two. It's like the air is electrified around you two when you're together, you know that right?"

"I think you might be overreacting a bit..."

"Come on, we thought we'd get a year in LA, if you get a cute boyfriend out of it where's the harm? Nowhere. Go on a date!"

"Are you hyperfocusing on my love life just so you can actively ignore yours?" It was now Julie's turn to turn to her with a smirk.

"Ignore what?" she asked playing dumb. It might have worked on anyone else, but Julie? Please.

"It's one thing lying to yourself, but lying to me? You're better than that, Flynn," she said. "You want me to help you write Carrie a love song too?"

"So this _is_ for Luke!"

"Wow, you didn't even flinch at the Carrie mention, you're good." Julie nodded her head with a smile. "Also I don't know if you remember but his best friend almost died a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn't exactly be the best time for me to do anything."

"Reggie is on board." Flynn moved her hand towards her dismissively.

"How do you know?"

"Oh we all talk about you two behind your backs whenever you disappear together," she said nonchalantly. "It happens a lot."

"I am thrilled," Julie said sounding anything but.

"You have indredible chemistry. That doesn't happen often, you shouldn't let it get away from you."

"I'm not," Julie said, "but we're here for a year. I have time, don't I?"

"Yes, but instead of spending your time with Luke, you could be spending it _with_ Luke. Play him the love song, he might pass out."

"Okay." Julie chuckled shaking her head.

"The boy worships the ground you step on," Flynn said emphasizing her words.

"You and Carrie have literally been dating ever since we got here and you went to meet the vampires," Julie deadpaned looking at her straight in the eye.

"I don't think patrols count as dates," Flynn interjected holding a hand out.

"I don't think showing you around the city during the day counts as patrols," Julie said with a snicker.

"Demons are very dangerous, Jules," Flynn said exaggeratingly serious nodding her head.

Julie looked at her and they just ended up bursting into laughs. She wrapped her arm around Flynn's shoulders resting her head on her shoulder still chuckling slightly. Spending time with Flynn, just casually sitting there and talking came so easy to her. Sure she was exhausted from the sudden demon outburst and she'd love to sleep for two days straight, but finally, after a long time, she felt so good with herself.

"Come on, play something more, I've missed your beautiful voice," Flynn nudged her with her shoulder. "You know, you're kinda talented."

"Oh really, thanks, babe," Julie said rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Have you been working on anything else?" Flynn asked flipping through the notebook on the stand.

"Nothing- wait!" Julie suddenly moved to grab the notebook, but Flynn snatched it away. 

"Is there something I shouldn't look at? Because I definitely should," she said as she bent backwards, looking through the notes even faster.

"No, it's not that, it's just not ready yet!" Julie said and succeeded in taking the notebook back. "I might have been working on something about you," she added vaguely.

"You wrote a song about me?" Flynn asked her, her eyes wide. "Oh, Julie," she said and threw her arms around her. "I love you too."

Julie hugged her back with a smile. "You wanna hear it now, don't you?"

"I will literally not leave this room until I do," she answered making her laugh.

"Okay, fine. Just a little bit though," she warned.

"Yes, yes, go ahead." Flynn moved back and waited impatiently.

Julie shook her head as she started on the intro.

_"If I leave you on a bad note_   
_Leave you on a sad note_   
_Guess that means I'm buying lunch that day..."_


	15. All I've Been Doing Lately Is Sleeping and Stabbing

"You're sure I shouldn't wait outside? I think I'm not exactly what you'd call welcomed here," Alex said, waving at a couple of werewolves at the other side of the bar with a smile while they were glaring at him.

"But you handle it so adorably," Willie said from behind the bar, beaming. "No, but all jokes aside, if anyone has a problem, they're more than welcomed to bring it up with me."

"They're not gonna bring it up with you, what do you think they're gonna say? Throw out the Shadowhunter you've been dating?" Alex turned around on the stool to face him.

"I mean they can, I'm not stopping them," Willie said with a shrug as he leaned forward, resting his arms on the bar.

"Really, okay, and how will you propose to solve the issue?" Alex asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'll patiently explain how they can go fu-"

"Okay!" Alex cut him off. "Great plan, good job," he said patting Willie's hands in front of him.

Willie laughed that usual, carefree laugh of his, his hair falling in his face as he looked down. "I'm almost done, but I can leave earlier if you're uncomfortable, it's pretty dead out tonight."

It was true, there weren't a lot of people around that night. The sudden surge in demon activity had worried many Downworlders as well, preferring to play it safe until the problem had been dealt with. And Alex and everyone else had really been trying to deal with the problem, but it wasn't that easy.

"No, it's okay. I mean I've been slicing demons nonstop this past week, I can handle a few glares," Alex said. He wasn't even saying it to make him feel better, he'd been so exhausted he literally didn't care if they came over and started shouting at him, he just wanted to sit down for a while.

"You're sure you want to do this? You look like you're about to fall down," Willie said looking at him worried.

"What? No, no, I'll be fine, we've had outbursts before," Alex dismissed it. "Just, if we can go sit somewhere and not run around? I'd really appreciate that."

"Sure," Willie said with a smile, moving away for a few seconds to take an order and started making a drink. "How is Reggie?"

"He's doing great," Alex beamed. "I do think he's been getting cabin fever because we won't let him leave the Institute though. Okay, maybe it's just me, but we should be careful with things like that. And he says he's okay and maybe that's true probably, but it's not gonna stop me, is it?" he said. "But no, he's not in danger anymore." He sighed happily.

Willie gave a little chuckle as he came back to sit with him. "I'm glad," he said, "I've missed seeing him around, he's always so cheery. We should hang out more."

"You already have a special handshake," Alex said with a chuckle. "I've seen you do that with Luke too now that I think about it. Am I the only one who's being left out?"

"Yes, because with you I get do this," Willie said and leaned forward kissing him softly.

"That's better," Alex whispered inches away from him.

"I'd say so." Willie smiled. "Come on, let's go, I'm off for the night," he said as he pulled back and walked around to come up to him. He gathered his stuff, talked with the guy who had the next shift - one that was actually friendly to Alex - and they were finally off.

They grabbed a couple of hotdogs and headed towards the beach sitting on the sand.

"Oh my God, food." Alex sighed contented as he took a bite.

"Do they not feed you in the Institute?" Willie asked with a smile.

"No they do, but I feel all I've been doing lately is sleeping and stabbing."

"Okay, should I be concerned about you passing out in the middle of an alley with demons around you?" Willie asked partially serious, partially joking.

"Nah, don't worry. I won't be alone, someone will make sure I don't get dead." Alex moved his hand in dismissal taking another bite. He looked back to Willie to see him staring at him with wide eyes and realized maybe it wasn't the best joke at that moment.

"Oh, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm kidding," Alex said as he leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'm not going to pass out, I promise. We have runes for that."

"Please tell me that you actually are sleeping at some point throughout the day," Willie said.

"Well yeah, the Energy, Endurance and Stamina runes stop working after a while- and I'm making you uncomfortable again, no scratch that, the runes are great, I'm fine," Alex tried to reassure him. "We'll probably change course of action anyway," he added.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, something is obviously wrong, that many demons don't just casually show up like that. You're keeping an eye out and the vampires are too especially during the night, but we kind of need a warlock here."

"You're gonna ask Caleb?" Willie asked losing his usual cool tone for a second there, sounding almost frantic. Almost.

"He _is_ the High Warlock, everything goes through him. Why, what's wrong?" Alex asked, a hundred things going through his mind at once. They had heard things, whispers about Caleb, but nothing concrete, nothing that anyone else would confirm. The thing was that if there actually was an issue it wasn't the Shadowhunters who were currently in danger, but people from the Downworld. And Willie being in danger did not sit well with him.

"Nothing's wrong, but he just... He gives off a vibe, you know?" he said. "Maybe it's in my head, but something feels off about the guy."

"Have you heard something in particular?"

"Is that Shadowhunter Alex?" Willie asked breathing out a laugh.

"That's concerned boyfriend Alex," he answered.

"Don't be worried about me," Willie said, "it's fine. And there's not something particular about Caleb, but like, I've met other warlocks too at the bar. They don't creep me out as much. You don't sound so sure about him either."

"We have no substantial proof for the opposite though and we can't really go poking around with no reason," Alex said with a shrug.

"The Accords." Willie nodded.

"Maybe we're overreacting too. Either way we need him, this is getting out of control. And the rest of the Shadow World is aware too. You've seen it, the bar was emptier than usual tonight."

"Yeah, they're playing it safe... I don't assume I could ask you to play it safe too?" Willie said but Alex could see he already knew the answer. This was Alex's job, he didn't have a lot of room to argue. And it's not like he wanted to get away from it, he just wanted to finally take care of it.

"Kind of hard when we're the ones in charge of taking care of the problem." Alex chuckled quietly. "But I can promise you I won't pass out in an alley somewhere," he added. Willie smiled nudging his shoulder with his own.

"I have faith in you, I hear you're good at what you do," he said with a smirk.

"I try," Alex said with a shrug.

"Dude, there were six of you and like sixty plus demons and you took them down, that's not _I try_."

"Well, it's been a while, some things are just instinct now," he said still trying to downplay everything, feeling weird getting compliments.

"Just accept the compliment, you are amazing, you should own it," Willie said looking at him with a grin.

Alex looked down trying to hide his blush and probably failing. Willie put a finger under his chin, raising his head back up to look at him. He leaned in, kissing him, making everything else wash away. They were together and Alex felt like everything else stopped for a while, like he could finally breathe out and enjoy the moment. He made time move a bit slower, especially at a time when everything was a blur for Alex. Sleep, demons, more demons, less sleep, demons again. This was a nice break.

Alex's eyes were closed when they suddenly snapped open. There'd been a change in the atmosphere, something Alex was a bit too familiar with. He pulled back and looked around. They were pretty much alone which was good in case Alex was right, but he desperately wanted to be wrong. So, so much.

"What's wrong?" Willie asked him noticing his change in demeanor.

Alex got up and walked towards the rocks on their right. There were a lot of caves under and in between them and it wasn't like Alex was going to willingly go exploring on his own, but if something was about to escape, he needed to be there. 

He took out his phone sending Luke a text just in case - just because he didn't want to be right, it didn't mean he wasn't - and reached inside his jacket taking out his stele and drawing some basic runes on his arms. Night vision, strength, accurance, stamina, energy - God, he just needed sleep, why couldn't he have a second for himself in this lifetime - and kept walking.

Willie had realized Alex was looking for something and he'd probably realized what that was, so he followed. They were closer to the rocks and it was still eerily silent making Alex think that he was just panicking for no reason and this was all in his mind because he just couldn't let himself calm down for a second without impending doom over his head, when he heard it.

It was subtle, but it was there and judging by Willie's face he'd heard it too.

"Sulfur," Willie suddenly said.

Alex sighed as he took his jacket off. "All I asked, was for one night off after running around for two weeks stabbing things. Just one night off, but do I get it? No, no, because apparently this is what my life has become now. Demons and stabbing. You know, I don't really appreciate this," Alex continued, basically talking to Willie, but also just trying to get everything out before all of this went to hell. 

"I had fun though, this was fun, even if it lasted like half an hour. I'm sure next time we can do better, I believe in us - hey, you might want to take a few steps back because this is going to probably be bad and I like you and kind of don't want you to get hurt, cool? Cool," he said and before he had even finished his sentence, he grabbed the dagger from his belt and spun around throwing it right in front of him getting the demon who had just emerged from the rocks through its head. It fell down, ichor splashing all over the sand and Alex just went with it. He'd texted Luke, someone was going to get there at some point. He'd also promised Willie he wouldn't pass out in an alley somewhere - and well this was a beach, but he figured the promise still stood - so he was willing to last until then.

There weren't that many demons, but there was still one of him and many more of them which wasn't what he'd call ideal. He had a seraph blade in hand, slicing through, things catching on fire and him just going with it because he didn't have a second to spare to make sure it'd actually worked. 

He'd started getting tired faster than usual, burning through the Energy rune like it was nothing because after so long neither coffee nor runes were enough to do the trick, but he kept going.

It wasn't ideal. And it wasn't ideal because his reflexes were not in their prime and he was suddenly a second too late and he braced for impact which never came. Not with him at least. One second there was a demon coming for him and the next it was being dismembered a few feet away by a large, dark brown wolf.

 _Huh_ , Alex thought willing his mind to work. _Willie's a werewolf, right_.

He turned around, trusting him to have his back and took care of the other three demons up close, getting away with only minor bruises and scratches. That was good, yeah.

There were black spots in his vision. That wasn't as good. He looked back to find Willie taking down the last of them and really, he'd never been more grateful for anything in his life. 

He fell on his knees breathing heavily because by the Angel, he just needed a fucking second. What had been happening with the demons lately?

He lied back on the sand, yes lying down was good. Everything hurt and he never wanted to move again, but this was good.

Willie came up close to him, still in wolf form, probably checking to see that he was alive. Alex wasn't so sure, but he was breathing so that was a good sign.

"I'm fine," he said still breathing hard, "I'm fine. Just... so fucking tired. But I'm not gonna pass out," he added, "even if this is not an alley exactly." He took a few deep breaths trying to calm his breathing down and not pass out right there and then. _Where is Luke..._

"Thank you," he said turning to the wolf who had settled down beside him and was looking at him, worried? Maybe a little, he couldn't really tell. "I need sleep, Willie. For just like, two days. And then I'll be okay again. If they tell me to do something I'll just say no, I can do that, yeah. I'm just gonna lock the door and put a rune on it or something and if anyone needs anything they can ask Carrie, because I can't. If Luke wasn't on his way and you weren't here watching me like this I would probably sleep here, it is a very real possibility, I can't lie to you," Alex kept ranting because if he didn't he'd fall asleep and it wasn't like Willie was cutting him off - well he couldn't cut him off, but still.

"If you could talk now you'd say something nice, wouldn't you? You always say something nice," he said with a sigh. "You know I might be a bit delirious from lack of sleep and the fact that my whole body hurts and I can't stop talking because if I stop talking I _am_ gonna pass out and I promised I wouldn't so I just need Luke to show up with a warlock or something because I'm not walking all the way back home, okay? No, I need someone to open a portal and get me home. Right in my room would be even better because there are stairs in the Institute and I am not gonna do stairs. Actually how far are we, we're not that far, are we? You can't answer, but I think you want to say no, right? I don't know..."

Willie suddenly moved a bit pushing Alex's hand over with his nose. Alex was confused for a second, but just as he raised his hand a bit, Willie slipped his head underneath. Alex chuckled as he realized what was going on, but he moved his hand through the fur petting his head. It was kind of cute.

"Alex!" he heard a distant shout and recognized Luke's voice. He wanted to get up to show that he was okay, but no matter how much he tried, his body was done. He needed rest. 

He heard his name again a bit closer and opted for shouting back. "I'm fine!"

Seconds later Luke had run over and kneeled on his other side. "Are you hurt?" he asked frantically, looking for any source of bleeding or anything else alarming.

"No," Alex breathed out.

"Are you going to get up?"

"No," he said again.

"Is this Willie?" he changed line of questioning.

"Yeah!" Alex said more cheerfully this time. "He helped me not die," he added with a loopy smile.

Luke looked over at the mess a few feet away and then back at Alex. "So you're okay," he said slowly. "Why aren't we getting up?"

"My body's not working anymore," he said with a sigh, "open a portal for me."

Luke smiled as he shook his head. "Give me a second," he said and got up running away for some reason. When he came back he was holding Alex's other dagger. That's nice, he needed that. Luke went ahead and took his stele out. "Okay, let's go back home."

"Not another rune, dude, it can't possibly work, it'll burn out faster," Alex almost whined.

"Well, what do you want me to do, I can't leave you here, it'll weigh on my conscience, Willie tell him!" 

Willie in turn raised his head to look at him and Alex could practically hear the _really?_ even in wolf form.

"You get what I mean, come on," Luke said lowering the neckline of Alex's shirt and drawing an Energy rune on his chest. Alex took a second to breathe and took Luke's hand who helped him stand up. He swayed a bit, but Luke wrapped an arm around his waist holding him a place. "You think we can make it back home?"

"I think we're gonna find out," Alex said and turned back to Willie. "Did I say thank you?"

"You probably did but your head is not exactly working right now," Luke said.

"Did what?" Alex turned back to him blinking.

"Okay, he's gonna call you when he's functioning," Luke told Willie and they started walking towards the road. "Thanks for not letting him die," he added with a smile.

"Bye!" Alex called out making Luke chuckle.

"You are sooo smitten," he said dragging the 'o' as they were moving away.

"I am sooo tired, I can't even argue with you right now," Alex said leaning most of his weight on Luke. The rune was working enough to make his legs work again which was good enough for now.

He was pretty sure Luke said some other things, but he had no idea what they were, nothing was processing anymore so he just worked to getting back to the Institute without passing out. He wasn't sure how far they were, but after... an unspecified amount of time - could have been a couple of minutes, could have been half an hour - Luke was opening the Institute gates.

Then there were the stairs.

"Why does this place have so many stairs?" Alex thought he could cry right now.

"It's ten steps, Alex, come on, I believe in you," Luke said still holding him tight.

"You believe in me?" Alex turned to him his voice so soft, his eyes actually watering.

"You need so much sleep, man." Luke shook his head dragging him along up the stairs.

"I know," Alex whined and then they were suddenly inside the Institute.

"What happened?" Alex heard a new voice just as dark spots started filling his vision again.

"Carrie, help," Luke said just as the last of the Energy rune burnt out of him and Alex was falling. There was suddenly another arm around his waist on his other side, someone slinging his arm over their shoulder. No, wait, Luke said Carrie.

"Hey, Carrie," he said somehow making her out through the haze of everything.

"What happened to him?" Carrie asked turning to Luke as they dragged Alex along towards the stairs. Oh no, not more stairs.

"He's tired," Luke said.

"This is not tired, Luke, this is half dead," Carrie said as they started going up the steps. Whether Alex was actually using his legs or they were just dragging him on, he wasn't sure.

"I'm not dead," he provided.

"Yes, thank you, Alex," Carrie said with a smile and turned back to Luke getting serious again. "What happened to him? I thought he was out with Willie."

"I was," Alex said, "it was nice. Then the demons came..."

"We've barely slept in two weeks, first with Reggie, then the demons and today was his day off, but apparently not so much," Luke said. "I'm telling you he's fine, he just needs sleep."

"I do need sleep," Alex agreed and suddenly people were calling his name. "What?" he asked.

"You blacked out!" Luke said.

"Oh," Alex said having no memory of anything, "okay."

"This cannot keep happening until we're all dropping like flies. We need to go to Caleb whether we like it or not," Carrie said while opening a door. Wait. His door, his room. His room!

"Yeah, I know," Luke said and it was the last thing Alex heard because as soon as his head hit his pillow, he was out.


	16. A Little Black Book

"He has us looking around the city like it's our fault the Shadowhunters can't do their job."

"Well what did you expect after he started hooking up with one of them, we'll officially be their lackeys from now on..."

"Doesn't it bother you?" Seth turned on the stool to face Willie. "They're talking about you."

"If I was bothered by everything people say about me I wouldn't sleep at night," Willie answered with a smile while wiping a glass, not even sparing a glass at the aforementioned members of his pack all the way to the pool table at the other side of the room.

"But they're such ass-"

"Hey! Language," Willie warned him pointing his finger at him.

"Dude, I'm not a kid." Seth rolled his eyes.

"You're fifteen, you're basically a child. You shouldn't even be inside a bar."

"Those are mundane laws, I'm a werewolf!" he tried to defend himself. "Also I'm just waiting on my sister to finish her shift, it's not like I asked for a drink."

Willie shook his head amused as he made a cocktail and passed it over to one of the customers.

"And anyway, it's not like this doesn't affect us too! Willie, demons kill!"

"Oh my God, I hadn't even thought of that!" Willie said his eyes wide and then chuckled at Seth's scowl. "Demons don't distinguish between mundanes, Shadowhunters or Downworlders, you're right, this affects us all. And Alex or no Alex the Shadowhunters have been working themselves to the bone."

It wasn't like Willie loved all Shadowhunters and thought they could do no wrong, he was still careful whenever he met someone new. And sure, there was Valentine and Sebastian and Zara, but just like that there was Alex and Luke and Reggie. Some were bad, some were good, the problem was you couldn't always tell who was what. And things had been getting better, but it was still not ideal, there was progress to be made.

"Shouldn't we go look or something? Help somehow?" Seth asked.

" _You_ should go to sleep, don't you have school tomorrow?" Willie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There are demons terrorizing the city and you want me to go to school?" Seth asked incredulously.

"Yes," Willie said firmly, leaving him no room to argue. "It's not your job to go after demons."

"Who's going after demons?" Leah asked as she came closer putting her coat on.

"We should!" Seth insisted.

"We won't!" Leah said with the same enthusiasm making his face fall. "We're going home before it gets too late," she added.

Seth grumbled something under his breath as he begrudgingly stood up, making Willie chuckle in amusement. "Bye, Willie," he said.

"Good night," he called back after them.

The bar wasn't as empty today, but it was still not back to its usual routine. Some members of the pack were scared and most were willing to help put an end to this, but there were also the ones who saw it as running errands for the Shadowhunters. All Willie had said was to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, it was literally the bare minimum.

He was standing behind the bar, wiping a few glasses and making the occasional drink, but business was slow and he wouldn't really mind closing up early and going back home. That was until his phone rang and he glanced at it with a fond smile.

"We're still together, right?" Alex's voice came as soon as he answered it.

"That's a new greeting," Willie answered.

"No, I remember I was weird, just not how weird," he tried to explain.

"I don't think you'll ever be weird enough for me to break up with you," Willie said making the boy give an awkward chuckle on the other end of the line. "Did you just wake up?" he asked.

"Yeah..." Alex said with a sigh. "I think it was twenty two hours straight. I didn't know that was possible."

Willie chuckled. "If you don't even remember what happened last night I think it was needed."

"I remember you saved me, did I say thank you?"

"Multiple times even though you didn't have to," Willie said. "It was certainly interesting, seeing you fight."

"Interesting?" Alex questioned.

"You have a gift with those daggers."

"I'm pretty sure I was working on autopilot, you know it took me a few seconds to realize the wolf was you."

Willie bursted out laughing. "I like to think I made an entrance," he said, "you're doing it again though."

"Doing what?" Alex asked.

"You can't take a compliment," he said. "Alex, you're hot. And yesterday when you were throwing daggers around you were even hotter, okay?"

He was met with some incoherent words and stuttering, only making him smile more. It was incredibly easy to make Alex flustered.

"See? I always say something nice," Willie said with a smile.

"I... wait, why does this sound familiar? By the Angel, what was I saying yesterday?" Alex suddenly focused back on the conversation.

"Mainly that you were dead tired, but you promised not to pass out in an alley somewhere and you wanted to keep your promise," Willie said as he walked to the back to get a charger when the phone made a dying noise.

"Ah, see though? I didn't," he said proudly.

Willie breathed a laugh. "You came close," he said as he opened the door and froze, every trace of amusement disappearing. "Hey, uhm, can I call you back? Work suddenly picked up," he said trying to sound just as nonchalant as before.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Alex said, ever so ready to accommodate everyone at all times. "Talk to you later."

"Bye," Willie said and hung up. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Tsk, tsk, is this any way to talk to a friend, William?" Caleb asked lounging in a chair with his feet on the desk in front of him.

"We are not friends, Caleb," he answered firmly.

"See, that pains me," Caleb said as he sat down properly leaning on the desk, "I thought we were in agreement that it'd be better for everyone if we were actually friends."

"What do you want, Caleb?" Willie asked wanting this meeting to be over already.

"Well, I think the question is actually what do _you_ want, William? You want your pack intact and alive or locked up and suffering? One option sounds a bit better than the other," he added the last part more quietly as if conspiratorial, nodding his head.

"Why are you here?" Willie repeated again his voice low, feeling the wolf coming closer to the surface.

"Well," he said and leaned back in the chair, "the Shadowhunters asked for my help today, you must have noticed how demons are suddenly roaming free, I see it's been bad for business. The club hasn't been doing great either, I didn't think I'd have to sacrifice my performances too in this endeavor, but what can you do..."

"Wait, this has been you? You're the one causing the rifts?" Willie asked shocked, even though he didn't know why. There wasn't much he wouldn't put above Caleb doing. "You have any idea how many people have been in danger?"

"Many, I suppose," he said as if he couldn't care less, "so, I've been hearing that you've gotten a bit cosier with the blond Shadowhunter boy, Alex, is it?"

Willie's blood ran cold. Whatever he was about to add wasn't going to be remotely good, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that he wasn't going to bring Alex into this. He already felt bad for hiding everything from him all this time.

"Legend has it that the LA Institute has something I want, or well they have information about where I can find it. Now, I would love to do this on my own, really, but for some reason I still feel some kind of... coldness let's say from the Angel Children. This is where you come in." He gestured to Willie with a smile.

"No," he said.

"Okay, that's one way to go, but," Caleb said holding a finger up, "what kind of Alpha would that make you?"

He had the upper hand, Willie was well aware of that and no matter what he did, it would end the same way. He doesn't help Caleb, he's an awful Alpha, his pack pays the price and Alex hates him in the end. He does help Caleb, he's an awful person and Alex hates him in the end. There was never going to be another ending, was there? He really thought it would help the pack if he took over. He knew what he'd gotten into, but he hadn't realized how bad things could get. 

"Cheer up, William, there are plenty of wolves in the woods," Caleb said. "You didn't really think the fling with the Shadowhunter was gonna last, did you? Just because the Lightwoods have apparently taken a liking on us doesn't mean we're suddenly widely accepted. Downworlders will always come after Shadowhunters. If it really came down to it, who do you think Alex would protect? The Shadowhunters he's known his entire life or some random werewolf who smiled at him?"

"Shut up," Willie said before he could stop himself. The last thing he wanted was for Caleb to know his true feelings on anything.

"This will be good for you," Caleb continued, "it's better you realize the futility of this relationship before it goes too far."

"What do you want me to do?" Willie asked through gritted teeth. Could he just hope that it wouldn't be something that bad? Well, he could, but he already knew it was going to be much much worse than what he thought.

"Why don't you take tomorrow off for a start? Go over to the Institute to see your Shadowhunter? I heard that date didn't go great yesterday..."

Willie's eyes snapped back to his. "Have you been following me?"

"Well... I haven't _not_ been following you... But I also have other things to take care of so don't flatter yourself," Caleb said dismissively.

And Willie wanted to say no, he wanted to throw him out and never have to deal with him again. But he couldn't.

"This is the right choice, William," Caleb said coming closer, "you know how beneficial your friendship with me can be. I've helped you before."

"I would _never_ ask for your help on anything," Willie said, seething. "Trevor made a bad choice and we're all still paying the price."

"I liked Trevor, he knew what was the right thing for him and the rest of you. I like you too though, couldn't have picked a better replacement, I mean you infiltrated the Institute before I even asked you to. Now that's what I call proactive," Caleb said beaming.

"You can't keep blackmailing us forever."

"Well, first of all I can, because you know Shadowhunters and how they get with their precious laws and second, don't see it as a blackmail, see it as a mutually beneficial friendship," Caleb offered.

"What are you looking for?" Willie brought the conversation back to the issue at hand. Maybe it wouldn't be something so bad, maybe they could get through this without the world collapsing or something. What could Caleb be looking for that was in the Institute and would do that much damage?

"Just a little black book, the Blackthorns should be well accustomed with it..." Caleb said looking around the room in distaste.

A book, okay, how bad could a book-

"Wait. A little black book? You're looking for the Black Volume of the Dead?" Willie desperately tried to keep his voice down because he really didn't need everyone to freak out. Of course Caleb would be looking for the most dangerous dark magic spellbook out there.

"You're really so much smarter than you look, William. Good for you!" Caleb said with a smile already getting ready to leave. "I'll be in the Institute tomorrow night at 8, you should drop by, spend some quality time with the young Nephilim," he added while making a portal and then he was gone.

Willie stared at the empty space he'd left behind frozen in shock. This had just become much more worse than he could have imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help myself with the names in this chapter XD


	17. You Always Want More

"Yes, okay, but like, I was thinking something a bit higher for the last part so you know, it goes out with a bang?" Luke tried to explain.

Julie looked at him and got up from the bench. _"Bight forever!"_ she sang throwing her head back and hitting the high note. She sat back down looking at the boys. "Something like that?"

"Yes!" Luke beamed, always excited to hear Julie's voice. 

"You know, now that we have a good lead singer we can actually do something with this," Alex said from his seat behind the drums.

"Hey!" Luke protested glaring at him which only made him look like an angry puppy. Julie found it adorable.

"Come on, man, you'd pick Julie over yourself no questions asked," Reggie said with a smirk lowering his bass.

"I still like to be appreciated!" Luke defended himself.

"Don't worry, Luke, I appreciate you," Julie said with an amused smile.

"Thank you, Julie," he said and she pretended to not notice Alex shaking his head in the background. Flynn telling her that they talked behind their backs about them hadn't really helped her situation.

The door suddenly opened to reveal Flynn who looked at them with a small smile. "Are we ever gonna hear you play all together?" she asked.

"When we sound decent, sure," Alex answered.

"With Julie singing I think you'd all have to be epic failures to not sound amazing," she said, her confidence on Julie always reaching new heights. "Anyway, Alex, you have a visitor and uhm, Reg, can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure," Reggie said, but made no move to move.

"Outside," Flynn said exaggeratingly nodding her head out of the room. Julie just rolled her eyes at her friend who was looking at her with a smile and just as Alex and Reggie filed out of the room she closed the door pointing to Luke who was thankfully looking through his notebook. Julie glared back at her but the door was already closed.

She turned back around with a smile, passing her fingers over the keys, absent mindedly playing the chorus to the 'definitely-not-love-song-for-Luke' she'd been working on.

"Oh, hey, I heard you playing that yesterday, it sounds good," Luke said raising his head and coming over to sit beside her on the piano bench, having become a habit. "What about lyrics?"

"Uh..." Julie looked at him at a loss for words. "No, nothing, why?"

"Come on." He grinned at her nudging her with his shoulder. "I've shown you so many of my songs, can't I hear what you're working on?"

"I haven't really finished it or anything..." Julie started to say again although something inside her wanted to start singing. She wanted Luke to hear this song.

"Most of my songs aren't finished," Luke said.

Julie hesitated looking between him and the piano. Should she just go for it? 

_Life is a risk, but I will take it_ , she thought and smiled. Luke had put it well.

She placed her fingers on the keys again, going back to the melody. She'd only worked on the pre-chorus and chorus for both parts of the song, but it wasn't like Luke would mind.

_"We say we're friends, we play pretend  
You're more to me, we're everything  
Our voices rise and soar so high  
We come to life when we're  
In perfect harmony  
Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa  
Perfect harmony  
Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa  
Perfect harmony"_

She let the melody fade and reluctantly turned to look at the boy next to her.

"That was beautiful," Luke said quietly looking at her. 

_The air is electrified around you two._

It certainly felt that way.

"Thank you," Julie said without pulling away.

"Who is it about?" he asked the dreaded question.

_You._

Julie opened her mouth to answer - was she going to say it was about him (?), she didn't know - but she didn't get to.

"Hey, guys you should- Oh shit, why does this keep happening to me?" Reggie said as he opened the door. Julie looked at him confused, it's not like they were doing anything, they were just two friends, talking. About a love song. Written from one friend to another. Yes, this was casual.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"Caleb is here," Reggie said, "I thought you might want to join."

Julie definitely wanted to join because she still couldn't trust that guy. She also wanted to continue that conversation with Luke though. Then again the moment was over and they were already getting up to follow Reggie.

"Sorry," he said giving an apologetic smile as they walked to the library.

"For what?" Julie looked at him.

"Uhm... Just sorry, you know," he said with an awkward chuckle as they reached their destination. Reggie opened the door and they walked in, Julie's eyes falling on the warlock who was currently talking to Carrie, her pointing something on the map.

Caleb turned back to look at them and smiled. Julie felt a shiver going down her spine.

"So," he said, "I hear you have a problem with some demons?"

"More than some..." Reggie muttered as they walked closer.

"We've basically been looking for a rift all over LA and there's nothing," Carrie said. "That many demons don't just come out randomly, there's something more at play here and we need to figure out what that is before anyone else gets seriously hurt."

"You want me to look for demonic magic then," Caleb said, realizing where they were going with it. "You know, there's no law against it."

"There's no law against summoning demons, letting them roam free changes things a bit," Julie said, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're right," he said conceding, "but Los Angeles is a big city, it will take some time. _If_ there's something to be found."

"We know," Carrie said, "and we're sharing whatever resources we have with you to find out what's going as fast as we can. Shadowhunters, Downworlders, mundanes, everyone's been threatened by what's been going on. It is in all of our best interests to get it over with as soon as possible."

There was something in Carrie's voice Julie couldn't exactly decipher. Almost as if there was a warning hidden somewhere behind the professionalism and willingness to work with each other. Did Carrie think... No. No, it wouldn't make sense, would it? Caleb couldn't be behind this, what would his endgame be anyway? Causing chaos just for the sake of it didn't seem like something he would do. He was playing nice with them, it didn't make sense to let demons free just out of... what? Spite?

The more Julie thought about it and tried to make sense of it, the more it didn't. Carrie was smart though and if Julie had started feeling uneasy and suspecting him from the day they'd met, then Carrie definitely had more to say knowing him these couple of months. Magnus had said that Caleb reveled in being the most powerful person in the room, holding something over everyone. Was this going to be like a deal or something? Was he going to ask for something return?

"I agree," Caleb said giving Carrie an equally guarded smile that appeared genuine enough. "Should we start from here?" 

* * *

Willie officially hated himself. He didn't want to do this on the first place, but he'd been left with no other choice and now he was there with Alex, lying to his face. Every option he'd been presented with had been terrible and he knew it wasn't going to end well.

And, God, sitting on a couch in the living room and having Alex in front of him talking and smiling at him like everything was great... It just worked to hurt him more.

"Is everything okay?" Alex suddenly asked him probably noticing he was quieter than usual. Great, now he was making him worried, as if Alex needed any more anxiety in his life.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Willie reassured him giving out a smile that made him sick inside. This was not right. "You seem better too," he added.

"Yeah, twenty two hours of sleep will do that to you," Alex said keeping his vibrant personality.

"How does someone sleep for twenty two hours?" Willie asked with a smile, more genuine this time although the guilt was still there.

"I have no idea, Luke and Carrie threw me on my bed and I just went with it," Alex said with a shrug.

"You've been living here for long?" Willie asked him, really wanting to know more about him, but he couldn't just pretend there wasn't a hidden agenda behind the question. This hadn't been a social visit.

"I guess... I moved in when I was seventeen, but I've practically grown up in here. The Blackthorns kind of took me in," he said smiling at the thought.

"They've been through a lot, haven't they? I vaguely remember the whole situation with Malcolm and that spell book..."

"Yeah, it was difficult," Alex said, not eager to elaborate. "At least the Black Volume of the Dead has been gone for eight years, so that's something I guess."

"Gone?" Willie questioned.

"Yeah, nobody really knows what happened to it and it hasn't resurfaced," Alex said with a shrug. "Maybe Julian does, but I doubt he would get us mixed up in it. Anyway, no need to think about that now," he said changing the subject into something more light hearted.

And maybe that was great. The book was gone, nobody knew where it was, it wasn't Willie's fault it had disappeared. Maybe Caleb would just leave it alone and carry on with his life, throwing parties and extravagant performances in his club without bothering him or the pack.

He let himself relax a little at that. He didn't have to betray Alex, he'd officially done his part in 'helping' Caleb, he could now move on with his life. Yes.

Then why the hell was his heart still hammering in his chest?

He stayed over for a little while longer, trying to get himself to enjoy this and calm down, with no luck. Maybe there was something in him that knew Caleb wouldn't be satisfied with his answer and he was going to ask for something more. And Willie definitely didn't want to find out what that was going to be.

When he walked back out of the Institute gates, he found himself being able to breathe for the first time ever since he'd gone in there. This whole feeling of betraying Alex and so many people who had done nothing but be nice to him was eating him up. But he had to look after the pack too, he was the Alpha, he had a responsibility.

He was walking down the street when he felt a presence near him and didn't even have to look up to know who it was. "It's gone," he said trying to keep all the emotion out of his voice.

"I hope you know that answer is not good enough, William," Caleb answered as he walked beside him, holding his cane. He really just looked like he was from a whole different era, which as far as Willie was concerned it was true, he was.

"They don't know where it is," Willie said, finally raising his head to look at him, "it disappeared after that Malcolm and Annabel thing eight years ago. They haven't seen it ever since then and they don't know where it is," he repeated. "Alex was eleven, he wouldn't know anything more anyway," he added with a shrug.

"That's true... It was primarily the Blackthorns who dealt with that whole mess, wasn't it..." Caleb said looking thoughtful. 

"I was twelve, Caleb, I don't know what happened back then," Willie snapped, "but I can assure you no one in there knows anything. And they'd much rather forget about everything that happened anyway."

"Indeed, Malcolm's endeavors kickstarted a dark period for the Shadowhunters..." Caleb said probably thinking about the Dearborns and the Cohort. At least that was long gone by now. "Powerful books like that don't just disappear though, William. You can't just destory it and carry on with your unimpressive life. Their Institute was clean, no dark magic there, which still leaves me with a lot of questions..."

"Look, man, is there really a point in this? You said it yourself, they don't trust you. There's no way - even if you magically find the book - that you'll take it and they won't realize it's you. You got to be High Warlock, isn't that enough? You have power."

Caleb sighed with a shake of his head. "I thought you would understand me, William, at least better than others. Υou're an Alpha! Maybe it hasn't been long enough for you yet..."

"What are you talking about?" Willie asked confused about how his position in the pack came into play here.

"When you get a taste of what true power over others means, you can't give it up. It's intoxicating, you always want more. You can't just let someone else hold power over you in any way," Caleb said staring somewhere in he distance.

"That doesn't go for everyone," Willie said firmly.

"Well, some of us are not afraid to dream big," he said. "We'll be in contact."

"Woah, woah, wait, in contact for what? This is over, there's nothing more I can do!" Willie stopped him as he was about to walk away. 

"For now," Caleb said while his hands worked on opening a portal in front of him and just like that he disappeared in a shower of golden sparks.


	18. You People Are Just Insufferable

Julie paced back and forth in the main hall waiting for Flynn, Luke and Alex to join her. She was trying to put her thoughts in order, make sense of what it was she was getting at. She was certain there was something going on and she felt that if she could just write everything down and put them on a board to look at, it would suddenly make sense to her. What she definitely knew though was that Caleb could not be trusted.

"You trying to open a whole on the floor?" Flynn asked as she came up to her, knife already in hand.

"I'm just trying to figure something out," Julie said as she came to a stop with a sigh. "There's something shady going on, I just can't understand what."

"With Caleb?" Flynn asked and Julie nodded. "Yeah, that's what Carrie was saying too."

"And the boys agree," Julie added. "I don't know if it's a good idea to ask for his help in this."

"He was pretty co-operative before," Flynn said. "You think he would just let so many demons run around in the city? I mean what does he gain?"

"I don't know, that's the thing." Julie groaned frustrated.

"That's the spirit getting ready for patrol," Alex said as him and Luke joined them.

"Caleb is shady," Julie said pointing at him. "I don't know what he's planning and I can't prove it, but I will figure it out."

"Okay," Luke said, "not that I disagree or anything, but we do need his help before we all collapse like Alex."

"I did not collapse," Alex started to argue holding his hand out between them.

"Dude, you slept for twenty two hours," Luke interjected looking at him. "That doesn't scream healthy either." 

"Hey, think you might need this?" they heard Reggie and Luke turned around catching whatever it was he'd thrown at him.

Alex looked at Luke with an exasperated slash deadpan expression he seemed to have mastered by now being around the other two boys. "You were going to come on patrol without a stele?" he asked trying to keep his cool.

"Dude..." Flynn said shaking her head with an amused expression.

"I thought I had it in my pocket," Luke said not at all fazed.

Alex gave a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, muttering quiely under his breath. Reggie started laughing beside him.

"Don't laugh, I'm the one who has to go out with him," Alex said.

"I mean I wanted to come but you threatened to lock me in my room if I tried," Reggie said, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You need to rest," Alex said leaving no room for conversation, but it didn't do anything to stop Reggie.

"It's been two weeks, Alex, I'm fine. You've put more iratzes on me than any Shaodwhunter should ever have and to be honest, I think I'm even better than you. I'm well rested and stuff. Diana even said I'm good to go and she gets as overprotective as you do sometimes," he pointed out.

"Are you really trying to argue with Alex when it comes to anyone's safety and well-being?" Luke said rolling his eyes. "We can sneak out together tomorrow night," he added.

"Are you really going to plan this right in front of me?" Alex looked between them.

"I'm pretty sure we can get away with it," Luke said nodding his head in confidence.

"Okay, let's just go before Alex kills you both right here," Julie said opening the front door and they all filed out. "Sorry, Reg," she told him with a sympathetic smile, about to close the door behind her. "I'll help Luke get you out tomorrow."

Reggie chuckled. "Thanks, Julie. Be careful out there."

"Always," she said and went to join the others.

***

It was a quiet night which was oddly suspicious. Usually up to then they'd already come in contact with a few demons here and there, what with everything going on these past couple of weeks. Julie wasn't complaining, taking a break felt heavenly, but she was worried that it was building up to something even worse.

What could be worse than demon apocalypse though?

"I can hear you thinking," Flynn said throwing one of her knives in the air and catching it as they were walking down an alley.

"Has our parabatai bond really evolved that much?" Julie asked making Flynn roll her eyes.

"I don't need to be your parabatai to see that you're on edge. Listen, I'm ready to fight a anyone anytime anywhere, but you need to chill. We haven't seen any demons yet, have we?"

"And you think that's a good thing?"

"I think it's suspicious, but I also think we should take what we're given and not look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe Caleb worked something out."

"Or maybe he's the one who started this in the first place and now he knows we suspect him and he's trying to lay low," Julie said.

"Who's trying to lay low?" they heard a voice beside them and before Julie had even realized what was happening, Flynn had pushed whomever it was to the wall next to her with a knife on their throat.

"Woah, it's just me!" Luke said raising his hands in surrender. "Please don't kill me in the middle of a dirty alley at night."

"So it's the setting that bothers you?" Julie asked from behind Flynn.

"See what you're doing? You're thinking too loud and I will end up killing a cute boy who should really make his presence known when he's close and not startle me when I have a knife in my hand," Flynn said as he let him go.

"Aww, you think I'm cute?" Luke said with a smirk.

"I think all three of you are cute actually," she said, "not really my type though."

"Yeah well, we can't all be tall, fair haired and obsessed with weapons," Luke said.

"Alex meets the first two," Julie offered as they kept walking. "Where _is_ Alex actually?"

"Here," they heard a second voice approaching them just as Alex caught up with them. "Is it just me or is it too quiet?"

"No, it is, that's what we were saying..." Julie said looking around. "I thought Caleb said this was going to take time."

"Just because we haven't found anything it doesn't mean no one has," Luke said. "Maybe we picked a quiet area, who knows." He shrugged.

Julie sighed. Was she just overreacting? Was Flynn right, should she be more chill and just go with it? It's not like she was eager to throw herself into another fight, she liked that they had a peaceful night for once, she could almost get used to it. Almost.

"Okay, Julie, you're stressing me out. Me! I'm the most laid back person you're ever gonna meet," Luke said. "Well, actually maybe no, Willie is the most laid back person you're ever gonna meet."

"And he was in the Institute today and we didn't even get to meet him with Caleb being there," Flynn said with a frown. "I was hurt, Alex, I hope you know that."

"How is that my fault? He had to leave. You know, bar, pack, that kind of stuff..."

"Did you tell him how amazing we are? He could have spared five minutes," she said. "Instead we were going around looking for demonic magic, or well looking at Caleb looking for demonic magic."

"Why was he looking for demonic magic in the Institute?" Alex asked confused. "Wouldn't we have noticed if the demons were coming from our own backyard?"

"That's what I said but he said that it could be some item with demonic magic that's attracting them closer and closer to the Institute. I mean it does feel like they're slowly closing in," Julie said thinking back on the past couple of weeks. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to what was happening or when the demons showed up, but it was like they were slowly inching closer and closer to them. Someone was deliberately letting them go.

"But we don't have any items with demonic magic in the Institute," Alex continued.

"Yeah, that's what _I_ started to say, but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things stashed in there that we have no idea about," Luke said. "He didn't find anything anyway."

"But he was looking..." Alex trailed off obviously thinking about something.

"What's wrong?" Julie asked when he stopped in the middle of the alley.

"I... No, no, it doesn't make sense, I'm probably overanalyzing again," he tried to dismiss it, but whatever it was it was still bothering him.

"Overanalyzing what?" Luke asked.

Alex looked at him, hesitating, whatever he wanted to say was obviously not good. "It's just... We definitely used to have an item with dark magic in the Institute that everyone knew about..."

"But it's gone," Luke hurried to say. "It disappeared eight years ago just as it had surfaced."

"What did?" Flynn asked.

Alex and Luke looked at each other and eventually Alex took the lead. "The Black Volume of the Dead," he said.

"The _what_?" Julie shouted looking at them with wide eyes. "You had- You- By the Angel, of course you did. No one has seen it ever since then!"

"You mean to tell me that Caleb's looking for one of, if not the most dangerous dark magic spell books out there?" Flynn asked.

"No, no, wait, this is just a theory and a pretty extreme at that," Luke said trying to put the conversation back on track, "just because the book passed by the Institute at some point and Caleb was there to help for something completely different-"

"What if he let the demons free so that we would call him in the Institute?" Julie said, pieces suddenly falling into place. "He gets to look for whatever he wants with our permission too!"

"No, Julie, it's still too far fetched, it's been eight years and now suddenly-" Luke started to say.

"I think she's right," Alex said his voice much quieter than before. Julie looked at him suddenly worried at his change in demeanor and noticed how he'd gotten his stele out, nervously passing it around through his fingers.

"What's wrong?" Luke who was obivously more in tune with Alex's changes moved a bit closer to him while still trying not to crowd him.

"I think," he started but stopped, gripping the stele tight in his hand. "I think Willie is working for Caleb."

"What?" Luke asked his voice dropping to a whisper too. "No," he said, "no, Alex, that doesn't make any sense! Willie's a good guy, why would he help Caleb do whatever it is he wants-"

"He asked about you!" Alex cut him off as he started pacing back and forth in front of them. "It makes fucking sense! God, I didn't-" he groaned. "He asked about the book, I said it hasn't resurfaced ever since then. I can't- What the fuck is happening?" 

Julie was going through everything in record speed in her head. Caleb had been letting demons roam free all around the city, endangering the lives of so many people for two weeks now so that they would willingly call him in the Institute and he could search around for the most powerful dark magic spell book in the world. Reggie had almost died so they would ask him to pay a visit!

"I was hoping the illusion would last a bit longer, but you people are just insufferable!"

They all turned around to find Caleb emerging from the other end of the alley. Julie's hand instinctively gripped her whip tighter.

"You start talking and bouncing off of each other coming to conclusions about everything," he kept saying.

"Why are you looking for the book?" Julie asked.

"Why is anyone looking for anything, Julie? Rumor has it, it has a pretty compelling story to tell..." he said with an insidious smile.

"Willie must have inform you that it's gone by now," Alex said his anger seeping into his voice. He was a great guy, he didn't deserve that kind of betrayal.

"Yeah well, I'm a bit more stubborn than that," he said and before any of them could react, Caleb moved his hands towards them and they all went flying back to the wall, something purple glimmering around their necks holding them still.

"Okay, let's see..." Caleb said as he moved in closer.

Julie was gasping for air, as were all of them, Flynn on her left, Luke on her right and Alex on his other side. The magic around her neck was leaving her just enough room so she wouldn't pass out, but there was still not enough air going into her lungs. Her hold on her whip weakened and it ended up slipping on the ground.

"I don't need you two," Caleb said opening his hands wide in front of Flynn and Alex and with a wave forward their heads hit the wall behind them with force and they both fell to the ground unconscious.

"As for the young couple over here," he continued and Julie had just enough time to see the golden sparks before she was falling into the darkness on the other side.


	19. This Was a Mistake

Reggie's blade clashed with Carrie's and he used his upper position to bring both swords down just when he felt something poking his right side. He looked down to see her holding her balisong just over his shirt.

"You lose," she said with a smile as they both moved back. 

"Ah, but I was good," Reggie pointed out.

"Never said you weren't," she answered, "as far as I'm concerned you should have been out there with us these past couple of days."

"Will you tell Alex that? He listens to you more than he does me and Luke," Reggie said as he grabbed a water bottle from the training room bench and took a sip.

"I wonder why," Carrie said with a chuckle.

"You know you always do that," Reggie said, "with the knife. You'd think I would have seen it coming. When did you even get it out?"

"I always have my balisong ready to go. And any other kind of knife, really. You should always be prepared."

"I don't think knives are really my thing..." he said. Reggie had taken a liking to the bow and arrow ever since he was young, he liked the idea of having everyone's back and it gave him a clear picture of the current battlefield. He knew where help was needed and he could always switch to a seraph blade if things ever got too bad and he needed to face their problems head on. Knowing where everyone was though always provided him with a sense of calm even when things were going to hell around him.

"You wound me," Carrie said clutching her chest in mock hurt.

Reggie chuckled and was about to answer when they heard frantic voices calling their names. They ran out into the main hall to find Willie and another guy around Tavvy's age Reggie hadn't seen before, holding Alex and Flynn who appeared to be unconscious.

"What happened?" Reggie shouted while Carrie gestured for them to follow as they ran to the infirmary.

"They're okay, I think they somehow hit their heads and passed out," Willie said doing nothing to shake the concern off his voice or ease Reggie's mind.

They set them both down in two beds and Reggie wasted no time taking out his stele and lifting off Alex's gear to draw an iratze over his chest just as Carrie did the same with Flynn. If Willie was right and it was just a simple head injury this should be enough to bring them round.

The rune glowed against Alex's skin before turning black and Reggie counted the seconds until Alex finally stirred on the bed and then, as if a switch was hit, shot up, his eyes frantic, but unfocusing.

"Woah, hey, Alex, it's okay," Reggie grabbed his shoulder making him turn to face him.

Alex groaned his hand flying to his head, closing his eyes in pain. "Hey, buddy, you should take it easy, I think you have a concussion," Reggie said.

"What happened?" Willie asked from his other side.

Alex's eyes suddenly snapped open and he turned abruptly to face Willie. Reggie looked at him confused, sensing the change in the atmosphere even if it didn't make sense. What did Alex have to be mad at Willie about?

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked him, his voice cold, taking Reggie by surprise. Alex was never cold with anyone, much less the people he cared about. He'd chosen who he'd surrounded himself with, much like Reggie had, and he would do anything for them.

"What-" Willie looked at him just as confused as Reggie.

"You are working for Caleb!" Alex shouted making himself wince at the loud sound.

Everything was suddenly silent. Reggie looked back at Carrie who seemed just as shocked as he was, while Flynn was obviously aware of more. The guy Reggie didn't know was looking unfazed at Willie who, unlike him, had frozen, panic starting to settle in at Alex's words.

"Alex, I-" he started to say, but Alex wasn't having any of it.

"Where's Luke and Julie?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"No? Caleb doesn't like to share?" Alex asked his voice dripping sarcasm. Not his usual well-meaning teasing, Alex was furious, his hands shaking at his sides.

"It's not like that!" Willie tried to regain his usual demeanor and failing. "I never wanted to help Caleb!"

"Why should I believe anything you have to say?" Alex said still exasperated.

"Because I care about you, Alex!" Willie said, his voice breaking at his name.

"Oh, okay," Alex said and got up to stand right in front of him. "And you figured the best way to show that was by lying to me all of this time?"

"I wasn't lying to you all of this time..." Willie stopped and Reggie could pinpoint the exact second Willie realized he'd formed the sentence wrong.

"Okay, so just some of the time? That's fucking amazing. You have any idea what the Black Volume of the Dead is? What he's going to do to Luke and Julie to find it?" Alex shouted.

"The Black Volume of the Dead?" Reggie asked before he could stop himself. Caleb was after _The Black Volume of the Dead?_ And Willie's helping him? No, they were obviously missing something, they'd known Willie for a while now, he was a good guy. Well, they'd known Caleb for a while too and he was... not great. Willie though? Something felt wrong.

Alex sighed and walked out of the room leaving Willie looking devastated. Reggie's head was buzzing with all the new information, trying to put everything in order. Caleb was looking for the Black Volume of the Dead, he had apparently kidnapped Luke and Julie and also Willie was working with him?

No. First things first, Alex.

"Tell them what's going on," Reggie told Willie nodding to Carrie and Flynn behind him. 

He walked towards the door ready to find Alex when Willie's voice stopped him. "You trust me?" he asked in disbelief.

"I..." Reggie trailed off not sure how to put it. "I trust that you care about Alex," he eventually said. "Just tell them what's going on," he added and with that he was out of the door.

His first instinct was the music room, but no, Luke and Julie were missing, Alex wouldn't spare time to relax just because his world was crumbling down all around him. So choice number two it was, the armory. Alex needed to stay occupied in times of crisis by doing something he considered helpful and since drumming or even punching a bag in the training room wasn't going to get their friends back, he'd have settled for the next best thing and that was organizing what they needed. Even if there wasn't a plan yet.

Indeed Reggie found him emptying the armory out, throwing stuff on the table with little to no care.

"Alex..." he started out carefully not wanting to startle him.

Alex's head snapped to the sound of his name and he turned around to face Reggie, turning the knife he was holding around in his hand and slamming it point first down at the wooden table in front of him. He sighed a hand going over his face, tiredly pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is all my fault," he said.

"Woah, okay, how did you reach that conclusion?" Reggie asked walking closer. Luke hadn't been wrong when he'd said that Alex tends to blame himself about everything. If he overanalyzed something enough, he'd find a way to make it his fault in the end.

"I kissed Willie, Willie's working for Caleb and now Luke and Julie are missing!"

"Okay, first of all that's a huge leap, let's just take a step back," Reggie said. "Look, I'm on your side, a hundred percent, always, you know that, but I think you should hear him out first."

"Hear what out, Reg?" Alex asked looking at him, his voice nearing despair rather than exasperation. "This was a mistake."

Reggie was trying to find something helpful to point out because he knew that Willie couldn't have been faking everything all this time. He was sure Alex knew it too, but his head was too clouded with all the bad thoughts his anxiety kept repeating to him every time he moved out of his comfort zone seemingly coming true. 

"He didn't have to bring you back!" he suddenly said.

"What?" Alex looked at him confused.

"Today," Reggie said. "There are countless demons roaming the city and you and Flynn were lying in some alley I presume unconscious and in danger. He didn't have to bring you all the way here _and_ wait to see if you were okay _and_ explain what the hell is going on to Flynn and Carrie."

Alex stayed quiet for a second and Reggie hoped he'd somehow convinced him when he just shook his head and said, "You're reaching."

"You're deflecting," Reggie shot back.

"We need a plan. He won't be keeping them in the club."

"Willie might be able to help," Reggie said knowing he was their only option no matter how things turned out. He obviously knew more about Caleb than they ever did.

"He has no reason to help us," Alex said trying to sound indifferent, but Reggie knew him too well and for too long to be fooled by that facade. He was hurting and he was trying to play it off as the emotionless Shadowhunter he was 'supposed' to be in the face of a crisis.

"That's not exactly true," they heard another voice and turned to the door to see the other guy - Reggie still didn't know his name - that had come in with Willie.

"How did you- Look, Seth, I don't know what-" Alex started to say sounding tired, but the werewolf cut him off.

"He was trying to protect us," he said.

"Protect who? The pack?" Reggie asked trying to find any reason behind what Willie had done.

"I-" he hesitated to speak, his hand scratching the back of his neck. "Things have not been great? For a while now... Willie was trying to fix that. Caleb didn't exactly like that, he doesn't want to lose his leverage over us."

"What do you mean? What leverage?" Alex asked suddenly slipping back to his usual self, being worried about the people he cared about. Reggie knew he cared, feelings don't just disappear at will.

"Seth!" Willie's voice came from the end of the hallway making Alex tense again beside Reggie. "What are you doing?" he asked almost as if reprimanding him.

"Tell him the truth, you can fix this!" Seth insisted turning to his Alpha. "He can help you fix this!"

"Leah is waiting for you outside," Willie said glossing over his words.

"You called her? What about-"

"You were never here," Willie cut him off, his tone more serious than what Reggie was used to. 

Seth looked at him for a couple of seconds and eventually sighed, hanging his head. "Yeah, I know," he said and left the way he came.

The air was thick with tension, a lot of unsaid words hanging in between. Reggie looked back at Alex without saying anything and when Alex finally nodded at him he gave him a reassuring smile and left the room too. They would hopefully join them later, whether they'd work things out or not... Reggie didn't know.

He walked right past the infirmary just as Carrie and Flynn were coming out. 

"Great, you're here, we need a plan," Carrie said as they all started subconsciously heading to the library. It'd been decided at some point - way before their time - that it was where they went to plan a course of action. The hundreds of books didn't hurt either.

"What did Willie say?" Reggie asked.

"Not as much as he should," Flynn snapped. "I know he's your friend or whatever but if I find even a curl missing from Julie's head, there'll be hell to pay," she emphasized her last three words.

"Caleb's been letting the demons out, no surprise there," Carrie said opening the door to the library.

"Julie was right," Flynn said as she paced back and forth a hand rubbing her forehead, "it was all about bringing him here so he could look for the book!"

"But we don't have the book! No one has seen it in eight years," Reggie said trying to make sense of it. "I mean Luke definitely won't know where it is, it doesn't make sense to go after him. Or Julie? He could have taken you and Alex too, but he didn't," he continued looking at Flynn.

"He doesn't care, he knows we suspected him anyway," Carrie said.

"Yes, but he could have bought time, or deny it! It's like he doesn't..." Reggie trailed off just as the realization hit him.

"What?" Carrie asked.

"He doesn't care," Reggie said, "because he's not going to keep it a secret. He doesn't want Luke or Julie, she didn't have anything to do with the book and he was too young, even if someone knew where it was it wouldn't be him. He took Luke for collateral and Julie so he would co-operate."

"Collateral for what? Who does he want?" Flynn asked exasperated looking between them, waiting for an answer.

Carrie sat down in one of the chairs leaning against the table in front of her, her hand passing through her hair. "What are we going to say to him?" she whispered.

Flynn looked at Reggie, her eyes still searching, trying to figure out what was going on. Reggie was trying to go through their options and none of them ended well. Flynn deserved an answer though, her parabatai was missing too.

"Julian," Reggie said. "He wants Luke's brother."


	20. Young Love Is Complicated

Julie opened her eyes, confused at first when there wasn't any discernible difference. The room was dark, a few rays of light coming in from a little opening on top of the door that - along with a mostly faded Night Vision rune - helped her make out where she was. The answer was the floor of a bare room, no wonder her whole body hurt.

"Hey, you're okay?" she heard a voice and looked beside her to see Luke who'd been sitting with his back on the wall, but was now kneeling next to her, looking worried.

"I... yeah? I guess," she said as she slowly got up and leaned back to the wall too. "How long were we out for?"

"I don't know," Luke said, "but I checked, there's no way out. Not that we can do anything without steles or weapons..."

"Oh, my whip... I hope someone got it back to the Institute..." Julie said absent mindedly choosing not to focus on the severity of the situation for the time being.

"I like how you have your priorities straight," he said and Julie thought he heard a smile in his voice.

"You mainly use seraph blades, you don't get to talk," she said moving a hand in his direction.

"Sure, but I still run around gathering Alex's kindjals when he just flings them at things," he said making Julie chuckle, but it eventually turned into a sigh. It was nice, trying to keep things light hearted even though they certainly weren't, but they had to return to reality whether they liked it or not.

"Why are we here?" she asked. "He didn't take Flynn and Alex, did he? He said he didn't need them, it doesn't make sense."

"I don't know..." Luke said with a sigh closing his eyes.

"We can't tell him anything about the book."

"We don't know anything about the book," Luke said as he turned to look at her. "It disappeared and as far as I'm concerned life is better without it."

Julie couldn't see much, but she could tell he was upset. It wasn't surprising, they had been captured and had no idea where this was leading to, but this felt like something more. Whatever it was he knew about the book couldn't be good.

"My sister and uncle died because of that book," he said filling the silence. "Tavvy almost did too, but he got out okay, doesn't remember much about it, thank the Angel. Then it was gone and everything was okay and Caleb wanting to find it is not going to end up well. I don't care what he does to me, I'm not saying anything. I don't know anything."

"I'm sorry," Julie said for lack of better words because 'I'm sorry' didn't feel like enough. She realized why Alex hesitated now back at the alley, Luke was far more familiar with the book than any of them were.

"Yeah..." he said with a sigh. "You can't change the past. And it sucks, it really does, but there are so many good things and people left... You focus on them."

"I know," she said quietly. If it wasn't for the people who cared about her she wouldn't have made it through this past year, a good support system was always important.

They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes, Julie itching to do something, anything really to get them out of there, but her willpower wasn't enough to break the door down. Luke was tapping his fingers lightly on the floor in between them, but before Julie could focus on the rhythm he spoke up.

"Can we just say something? I can't with the dead quiet, it's weird."

"I'm guessing stealth is not really your strong suit is it?" Julie asked with a smile.

"I'll have you know I'm great at sneaking in and out of places," Luke said almost proud. "If my brother knew how many times me and the guys had sneaked out during the night when we were younger he'd never let me leave the Institute again."

"That's Julian, right?" Julie said able to finally put the Blackthorn siblings in order. "The one who's apparently in charge of everything?"

Luke chuckled. "Yeah... I mean he raised five kids. And basically took in Reggie and then Alex too. He had also kind of been running the Institute ever since he was twelve until Helen came and helped and then Diana eventually took over."

"He was running the Institute when he was twelve?" Julie asked, her eyes wide. "I barely knew how the Institute worked at twelve."

"My uncle was supposed to, but he couldn't... Julian sacrificed a lot to keep us together," Luke said looking at his hands in front of him. "I just hope he doesn't get involved in this."

"Uhm... We could use the help," Julie said gesturing to the empty room around them. 

"He worries," Luke said.

"He might have a good reason this time," she said and surprisingly heard him laugh.

"The others will find us," he said having faith in his friends.

Julie had no doubts that Flynn would tear the world apart to get to her - as would she - but there were a lot of questions hanging in between. Where were they? Why wasn't Caleb there presumably asking them questions about the book? Why had he only taken the two of them? Was this a trap? The last thing she wanted was for their friends to be in danger just because they came to look for them. If they even knew where to look.

"Can I ask you something?" Luke suddenly said breaking the silence once again.

"Sure," Julie said.

"That song you were playing this morning," he started and Julie's mind went blank. They had just been talking about the Black Volume of the Dead and being captured and who knows what was in store for them and Julie was fine, they were trapped in a room but they were fine, no weapons or steles, but again, _they are fine_ \- and now Luke comes at her with her definitely-not-a-love-song-for-Luke? This is not what should make her nervous.

"Uhh, do you think now is the right time to talk about songs?" she asked, a hand going through her hair, 'accidentally' - but not really - moving it closer to her face. It was dark, but if she could conceal any kind of blush, she would.

"I think every time is right to talk about songs," Luke interjected.

"Of course you do," Julie said smiling fondly at the floor.

"I was just wondering about the rest of the melody," he said, "you only played part of it."

_I probably shouldn't have played any of it._

_No._ She shook her head at herself. She'd decided to take the risk and go ahead with it and to be honest, if Caleb hadn't showed up or if they hadn't been captured, who knows how things could have progressed. Luke definitely seemed... Intrigued.

Julie hummed a bit of the beginning. She was still working it out, but it was going well, the melody coming to an end, the lyrics not so much. Almost as if she wasn't meant to do this alone.

_By the Angel, Julie, you're trapped in a room with him and there's a warlock who probably wants to kill you, this is not the right time._

That was the voice of logic inside her head.

_By the Angel, Julie, you're trapped in a room with him and there's a warlock who probably wants to kill you, this is **exactly** the right time._

That was Flynn's voice.

"Have you been working at it for long?" Luke asked her.

"Kind of... It was something vague I'd started long ago..." Julie said trying to play it off cool. "I guess all the singing and writing put me in the mood to work on it again."

"I'm glad," Luke said giving her a genuine smile. Then again she was pretty sure Luke was incapable of handing out any fake ones. "With that voice, you shouldn't stay quiet."

Okay, how could he say things like that and expect her not to blush? At least it was dark, captivity has its perks.

"You know, you didn't get to answer me this morning..." he said and Julie's first reaction was to play dumb because she obviously knew what he was talking about. 

"About what?" she asked. And maybe that was worse because there was no way he didn't know she was playing dumb and this whole thing was just dumb and if she had something to say she should just come out and say it.

"The song," he said nonetheless, "did you write it for someone?"

And like, they'd already been captured by a warlock, how much worse could things get?

"I," she started to say once again, having no idea where she was actually going with it and if she would just tell him the truth, but just because the universe hated her, the door suddenly opened.

They both turned around, but before they even had time to get up and do anything, they were once again enveloped by golden sparks and were suddenly sitting in two chairs, their hands and feet tied up against their wooden arms and legs. Julie was seriously starting to get tired of portals.

They were once again in another windowless room, only this one had furniture and the light on. Julie could finally see them better and she could now confirm they did not look great. At least they hadn't encountered any demons before so they weren't covereed in ichor, that counted for something.

"So, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Caleb sat down behind the desk that was separating them.

"You're looking for something that has been lost for years!" Julie said struggling against the ties on her hands as did Luke beside her.

"Yes, Julie, thank you for reminding me things I already know," Caleb said with a tight smile looking at her. "I'm actually looking for someone with more experience, you know someone who's in charge of running things around there."

"Diana doesn't know either," Luke said giving up on trying to get his hands free, although Julie noticed his fingers still tapping against the chair. For someone who could barely stand still when he was free to roam around this must be making him restless.

"Diana was not in charge when the book first appear," Caleb said leaning against the desk.

"My uncle is dead," Luke continued not even hesitating, his voice never wavering. If Julie didn't know the truth she would have believed him.

"Okay, we can do this for a while or we can just admit that it was Julian who took care of everything and move on," Caleb said moving a hand towards Luke.

"I'm fine doing this for a while," Luke answered and Julie would have laughed at his non-chalance if she wasn't aware of how serious the situation actually was.

Caleb sighed tiredly a hand going over his face. "It's like babysitting children..." he said.

"You know they're gonna come for us," Julie said. "Grabbing just the two of us off the street wasn't the smartest move on your part."

"I would worry if I cared, really," Caleb said pointing at her, "but I'm not planning on sticking around for long. All I want is to talk to your brother and then you're free to go." He turned back to Luke.

"Well then I guess I'm spending the night," Luke said with a smile. "Or is it day? There are really no windows in here..."

"You Shadowhunters and your martyr syndroms..." Caleb said shaking his head. "But it's okay, that's why we also have the lovely Julie here." He looked at her with a smile that made a chill run down her spine. "And really, all I'm asking is to have a talk with your brother. He helps me out, you don't die, I think it's a pretty good deal. You don't want your girlfriend to get hurt, do you?"

"We're not dating," Julie said before she could stop herself. This was definitely not what she should have gotten out of the conversation.

"Really?" Caleb asked in disbelief almost disappointed to hear it. "I was so certain, with the way you two look at each other... Well, young love is complicated, isn't it?" He moved his hand in dismissal. "So, Luke, what's it going to be? Will you get a hold of your brother or you don't feel motivated enough yet?"

Julie turned to Luke to find him even more closed off than he'd been in the beginning, glaring at the warlock in front of them. She'd been in Los Angeles for about a month and she could have sworn, she'd never seen Luke angry. She didn't think Luke could get angry.

"Even if I wanted to, he's in Alicante. Phones don't really work there," he said through gritted teeth.

"Yes and if only there was another way to send a message over there," Caleb said rolling his eyes.

"You don't need me for that, warlocks can send fire messages in Alicante," Luke said.

"Yes, I would rather not send a ransom note right in Nephilim capital, just a personal preferrence. I'm sure your brother misses you though and would love to hear how you've been doing in his absence," Caleb said pushing a pen and paper Luke's way.

"I need my hand to write," Luke said with a deadpan expression, "and a stele to send it."

"Of course." Caleb nodded and was about to move his hand to presumably let Luke's hand free, but he stopped, pointing one finger up. "First though," he said and there was suddenly a ring of purple sparks around Julie's neck again, making it harder to breathe.

"Hey, I said I'll do it!" Luke shouted looking between them frantically.

"I know, this is just so you don't get any funny ideas. Just know that I can close my fist faster than you can get free or draw any kind of rune," he said moving his fingers ever so slightly inwards and making Julie gasp at the increasing pressure around her throat.

"Fine!" Luke shouted again. "Just stop!"

Caleb gave him another bone chilling smile and with wave let Luke's right hand free. Julie felt the pressure subsiding just long enough for her to get some air into her lungs, but still not enough.

"What do you want me to write?" Luke asked grabbing the pen.

"Don't do this, Luke," Julie managed to get out, her voice strangled, but there. Suddenly the pressure was higher again, she hadn't even seen Caleb move.

"Hey!" Luke snapped at him, getting his attention back. "I said I'm doing this, tell me what you want me to write so we can be done."

"No specfics. Just let him know something's come up and to get back to you within the hour. Oh and make it sound urgent because if we don't get a call within the hour things might get a bit worse for you two..."

Julie had had her phone on her when they'd gone out, she could only suppose Luke did too, but they'd been taken away like their steles and weapons. She'd actually much more prefer a stele right now rather than her phone. 

She looked at Luke writing a short message down and then extending his hand to get his stele back to draw the fire rune. Caleb opened one of the desk drawers and took it out, handing it slowly to Luke. "Don't try anything," he warned him.

"I heard you the first time," Luke said taking the stele and started drawing the fire rune, taking longer than any Shadowhunter usually would. Almost as if he was trying to think of a way to use this to their advantage.

Caleb looked over to check what Luke had written down. "And if the message goes to anyone other than your brother-" he started to say, but Luke cut him off.

"He won't call within an hour and things are going to get a bit worse for us two, you know I don't know why you think I'm not listening to you." He left the stele down, picking up the paper which was already going up in flames, throwing it upwards as it disappeared. "Let her go now," he said nodding to Julie.

Caleb looked at him for a couple of seconds and then Julie could finally breathe again. She looked back at Luke not knowing whether to be grateful or apprehensive. He'd done this for her, but it was the last thing he should have ever done.

"We'll talk again soon," Caleb said and Julie got to see the portal forming this time before it moved towards them.

"Oh come-" she started to say and then she was falling back into the dark room, "-on. I'm starting to hate portals." She banged her head to the back wall.

"Are you okay?" Luke moved closer to her.

"Yes," she said. "I- Thank you, Luke, really, but you shouldn't have done that. Giving him what he wants-"

"I didn't," he said with a sheepish smile.

"What?" she asked moving away from the wall to look at him better. "What do you mean you didn't? You sent the message."

"I did," Luke answered, his smile becoming more earnest, just like it always was, "just not to Julian."


	21. I'd Do Anything for You

There were so many things Alex wanted to say. So many questions he wanted to ask because none of this made sense and all the thoughts in his head were screaming at him, dragging him deeper and deeper into the darkness which he subconsciously knew was not right. There was a part of him that was questioning everything and was trying to provide him with an answer that made sense and didn't make him feel like he was dying, but the screams were still too loud.

"Why?"

It wasn't the most elaborate question, but it was what mattered, wasn't it? These past couple of months... It couldn't all have been a lie, could it?

Willie sighed, looking away. It wasn't a hard question, surely there was an answer. He said before that he didn't want to help Caleb, had that been a lie?

Alex waited for a few seconds, ready to speak up again because they didn't have all the time in the world. Julie and Luke had been captured and the more time they spent in the Institute, the less they were out there looking for them. For Caleb.

"I recently took the Alpha position, you know that," Willie finally said when Alex had almost given up hope. "Trevor didn't just retire, he couldn't take care of the pack anymore and he agreed that a change in leadership was needed. I stepped up knowing full well what I was getting myself into, at least I thought I did, but I couldn't do anything about it."

"What does that have to do with Caleb?" 

Willie hesitated, looking at him. There was something he wanted to say, Alex could tell that much, he wanted to explain himself and prove this wasn't as bad as it looked, but he was holding himself back. It didn't make much sense to him, how could an explanation make things any worse than they already were?

Willie passed a hand through his hair looking anywhere around the room with a sigh, but eventually turned back to Alex. "A couple of guys from the pack killed two mundanes six months ago during a full moon," he said in one breath.

He was met with silence. Alex didn't know what to say. And he didn't know what to say because-

"We never heard about that," he said, trying to piece everything together.

"No, you didn't, because Trevor asked Caleb for help. Those guys, they just... They weren't good people. And they were thrown out of the pack as soon as it happened, but the burden still fell on us, well on Trevor, so he asked Caleb for help covering it up because he knew he wouldn't ask questions. Caleb saw an opportunity and he took it. He's been holding it over our heads ever since just in case he ever needed a werewolf for something."

Alex really wished his drumsticks weren't in the music room. "Why didn't you say anything about Caleb for so long? You've known us for two months, why didn't you come to us?" he asked his voice slightly raising in the end even though he wasn't sure why.

"Alex, we essentially broke the Accords-"

"Why didn't you come to _me_?" Alex shouted exasperated.

Willie looked taken aback at first, like he didn't expect that question. He looked at Alex confused, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as if it didn't make sense.

" _You_ didn't break any law, _your pack_ didn't break any law and even if you had, why didn't you come to me all this time?" Alex asked again, his voice quieter, but firm.

"You would have helped me if I'd broken the law?" Willie asked still just as confused as before.

"Yes!" Alex said without even thinking about it. "I know you would never hurt anyone and there's no way in hell I'm letting you go down for something someone else did!"

"But," Willie started but wasn't sure how to continue. Alex was pretty sure he'd never seen him at a loss for words before, this was mostly his area of expertise. "What about the other Shadowhunters?"

"What about them?"

"Alex, you're an amazing guy and your friends are great too, but you realize not all Shadowhunters are _good_ ," he said emphasizing the last part.

And Alex was hit with the full force of his words, because he was right, not all Shadowhunters could see reason and not all Shadowhunters liked and respected Downworlders. Some of them would hear _murder_ and then Willie and his whole pack would be under the microscope and who knows how far they'd be willing to take it. The situation would have to clear up in the end, but a lot of things could go wrong and Alex wasn't naive. He didn't believe all Shadowhunters were saints that could do no wrong, he'd seen them at their worst, just like he'd seen them at their best. And Willie was just a guy trying to protect his people, his family, from all those bad things that had happened in the past.

"That night, when you kissed me on the roof, I pulled back, remember?" Willie asked him and Alex nodded. He remembered everything about that night and he doubted he would ever forget. "I've liked you for a long time, but going a step further and actually doing something about it while Caleb was still holding this over my head and could ask anything he wanted didn't feel right. I didn't want to have to lie to you, you don't deserve that. But then you kissed me and it'd been five months, Alex, and nothing had gone wrong and Caleb was High Warlock he had everything he wanted, what more could we do, and I just thought, maybe, maybe I can forget about him and just do this..." He smiled but it quickly fell as he looked down. 

"I never wanted to bring you or your friends into this mess. I didn't tell Caleb anything, really. Even if you'd known something I wouldn't- God," Willie said, a hand passing over his face as he paced around the room. "I have a responsibility to the pack, but God, Alex, I'd do anything for you."

It was Alex's turn to stare at him dumbfounded. "You'd put me over the pack?"

"Ideally I would try to help everyone," he said, attempting to make a joke in the heavily charged atmosphere around the room. Alex wanted to smile, but his head was still stuck at his previous words.

"I'd never ask you to do that," he said knowing full well what it meant to be a leader and to have people who depended on you. He seriously needed something to do with his hands, so he slowly started gathering the knives he'd just scattered all around the table almost instinctively, keeping his sole focus on Willie.

"I know," Willie said, "that's why I love you."

"What?" Alex's head shot up, the knives falling from his hands on the floor.

His mind went blank for a couple of seconds and then he'd suddenly bent down to pick the knives up, almost working on autopilot. Willie was somehow there next to him too about to help, when Alex's head snapped back into focus.

"No!" he said, his hand shooting out to grab Willie's wrist as he was reaching for one of the knives. Willie looked at him confused, but Alex grabbed the knife he was going for, holding it in his other hand. "The hilt is silver," he said throwing it back over the table. "Also I do too," he said working through the haze that was his mind. "Love you, I mean. I didn't make it clear. Okay, I love you too," he said putting the words in the right order.

He waited for Willie to say something, but then his lips were suddenly on Alex's. And it wasn't a long kiss or the most passionate one they'd ever given, but it was different. It definitely meant the world to Alex.

As much as he wanted to stay like that for a while, he just as much needed to save his friends first, the fact that things made sense now helping the situation. "Luke and Julie," he said. Willie nodded and they got up, walking over to the library where Alex knew they'd find the others.

"Uh, do you think it's a good idea for me to come in?" Willie stopped right outside the door.

"Yes," Alex answered taking his hand and opened the door. 

"Isn't he in Alicante?" Flynn was saying just as they walked in. Everybody turned to look at them and Alex felt Willie stiffen beside him, but as soon as they saw their hands, the tension eased up a bit. Alex had been pissed off earlier, they knew he wouldn't just act like nothing was going on if there wasn't a really good explanation.

"He wants Julian," Reggie said.

"Shit," Alex muttered as they walked in closer. "You called him?"

"No, I was hoping you might want to," Reggie said knowing full well he didn't want to.

"Yeah, calling him to say your worst nightmares are coming true doesn't sound that appealing," Alex said but sighed in the end. "If Caleb wants him though he should hear it from us first, we can actually explain what happened."

"We can't just give him what he wants, who knows what he'll do to Luke and Julie to get answers out of Julian that he most probably doesn't have!" Carrie said.

"Who knows what he'll do to them if he doesn't get what he wants," Reggie said.

"It's not-" Carrie started to say when something flew towards Reggie and he grabbed it through the air. A fire message?

Reggie looked through it quickly, his eyes widening. "It's from Luke!" he said.

"What?" Alex snaped his attention to him.

"This is for Julian," Reggie said, "he's telling Julian there is an emergency and to call within the hour. Why did he send this to me?"

"He doesn't want to get Julian involved either," Carrie said.

"Caleb's gonna know Luke played him if Julian doesn't call within an hour," Flynn said.

"Which means we have an hour to find them before we have to get Julian involved and things get worse," Alex said with a sigh. "Should we just go to the club? He won't be keeping them there..."

"Actually, I think he might be," Willie spoke up for the first time in a while.

"What do you mean? He wouldn't just bring them back to the only place we know where to find him," Carrie said.

"Not the actual club, there's more to it," Willie said coming closer too. "There's a basement, kind of, but there's no access through the club. The building used to belong to the werewolves here many years ago, but they eventually moved out. They got the bar that's been passing on from generation to generation and other hotspots throughout the city. I don't exactly know the schematics, but there's a basement much further down. It's where younger werewolves used to stay during their first full moons to make sure they didn't hurt themselves or anyone else. It's technically at the club, but you wouldn't be able to find them if you went in the club."

"But you know how to get there?" Flynn asked.

"There are a few entrances around the city, but no one's been there for years. If they still stand then yeah, I can take you there," he said with a nod.

"What about Caleb? He's not just going to let us waltz inside," Reggie said.

"Debatable," Carrie said holding out a finger towards him.

"What do you mean?"

"He won't be standing outside the door or in a dirty basement, you know Caleb. He's waiting for a phone call, he's probably in the club. If he smells trouble he can just make a portal and disappear and he can move Luke and Julie wherever he wants to. We just need to be ready for whatever he's left behind," she said as though warlock magic wasn't a big deal.

"Oh, just that? Okay then," Alex said rolling his eyes. "We only have one hour to get in and get them. If it doesn't work..."

"We'll have to let Julian know before time runs out," Reggie finished.

Alex nodded solemnly. Luke had sent the message to Reggie because he didn't want to give Caleb what he wanted, he didn't want Julian involved and Alex could understand that. If he thought that Julian could magically fix all of this he'd be the first one to call, really, but right now he knew it wouldn't change much. It could even make things worse, if Caleb knew he had Julian's attention nothing stopped him from using Luke and Julie to make his point.

They had one hour. They just had to use it wisely.


	22. Keep Your Head in the Game

Alex was rushing along with everyone else through the streets of LA. They only had one hour and even though they weren't going far, they had no idea what they could be up against and they couldn't risk it, not with Luke's and Julie's lives on the line.

Alex thought he was handling it pretty well. I mean sure, his heart was trying to beat out of his chest, the shuddering breaths were making his lungs hurt and all he could think about was how Reggie had almost died just a few weeks ago and now his other brother had been kidnapped by a warlock who wouldn't hesitate to hurt him to prove a point and they didn't even know a hundred percent that Luke and Julie were going to be where they were going and if they didn't call Julian on time Caleb would hurt them and they wouldn't find them on time and-

"So, I know I'm not very good at picking up on hints, but I'm assuming you two worked things out?" Reggie was suddenly beside him.

"What?" Alex asked, coming out a bit more breathless than he thought. Okay, maybe he was on the verge of a panic attack, he'd ride it out until they got there. If he had something to focus on it'd be better.

"You and Willie? Holding hands, staring at each other lovingly from across the room, planning your future wedding?" Reggie carried on.

"No one's getting married," Alex said.

"Not with that attitude," Reggie said. "I'm calling suggenes!" He raised his hand excited.

"Luke will fight you on that."

"No, we'll work out a system, everyone gets to do it once," he said making Alex smile slightly. It was nice to hear Reggie talk like this, not underestimating his place in their lives. He felt like there'd been a burden lifted off of Reggie's shoulders ever since he'd gotten hurt and they'd talked things out. Alex second guessed a lot of things in life, sometimes without even meaning to, but never Luke and Reggie.

"Thank you," he said when he realized his heartbeat had dropped back to normal. It was reassuring really, the fact that the guys had gotten so accostumed to even the subtle changes on him, even when he was trying to pretend he was fine. They didn't make a big deal out of it if there wasn't a reason to and just quietly tried to make sure he was okay without breaking the conversation or bringing it under attention.

Reggie smiled at him, his usual warm smile given out to anyone who needed it. "Are _you_ okay?" Alex asked him.

"We'll find them," Reggie said confidently. "Luke knows it too, he sent the message to us for a reason."

"It's here," Willie said from a few feet ahead as they all came to a stop. Alex was certainly grateful that it was about 3 am and there was no one around because they had no idea what they'd be walking into.

There were no lights around, the only reason they were able to see anything their Night Vision runes and Willie... well, Willie was a werewolf. They weren't very close to Caleb's club, but apparently those tunnels ran a long way under the city. They'd gone through mulitple alleys until reaching a dead end in between some abandoned houses that looked about to collapse.

"This does not look promising," Carrie said looking around.

"Well, you can't put a werewolf hideout in the middle of a park, can you?" Willie said with no spite behind his voice.

They walked to the back of one of the houses, coming up to an old rusty door. Willie moved to open it - its condition making it budge easily. There was a long flight of stairs behind it, disappearing into the darkness.

"Okay." Alex sighed quietly as they climbed down. He felt a hand in the dark taking hold of his own, giving it a squeeze. He looked up to see Willie offering him a small smile without saying anything more. Feeling his anxiety levels rising again, Alex tightened his hold on his hand. Descending into the darkness wasn't exactly what he'd call optimistic about finding their friends.

They reached the end, coming up against another door, that one looking more sturdy. Willie tried to open it too, only to find it locked.

"Okay, this is where we get to shine," Flynn said moving forward and drawing an Unlocking rune on the door, easily opening it. 

"Shit," was the first thing Reggie said as soon as the door opened. There was a long corridor that split up in the end, both sides with mulitple doors. "We have time, but we need to hurry."

"We'll take left, you take right," Carrie said taking point and immediately moved forward with Flynn.

"Thank you," Alex turned to Willie before he could follow Reggie.

"Uh, I'm coming with you," Willie said as if it was a given.

"What? No, you don't have to-"

"Alex, hey, I love you, but please listen to your boyfriend and let him come with us because we need to go," Reggie came up beside him looking in between them.

"You do remember I turn into a big wolf with sharp teeth, right?" Willie said, looking at Alex with a smile.

"Also a valid point," Reggie said as they started moving to their right.

"I worry, okay?" Alex said trying to defend himself as they drew Unlocking runes on each door, looking inside. "We're in a loving relationship now, you don't get to get hurt."

"You constantly throw yourself to demons from hell, what am I supposed to say?" Willie asked with a raised eyebrow. "I found you passed out in an alley earlier tonight! I thought we had an agreement about that."

"That..." Alex momentarily faltered. "Was not my fault. I did not pass out, I was knocked out, completely different."

"That really makes me feel better..." Willie said rolling his eyes.

"Alex?" they heard a muffled voice calling out behind a door a few feet ahead of them.

They all froze as they stared ahead. Alex and Reggie looked at each other. Then ran for the door. 

* * *

"Julie, what are you doing?" Luke asked from his place on the floor.

"I am not going to wait in here until someone finds us or Caleb gets bored and wants to talk again," Julie said staring at the door - well, more like squinting, her Night Vision rune had faded - trying to find a way to get it to open. The door handle wouldn't budge, there was no other opening other than the one on top with the minimal light coming in, but it was just a sliver. She would barely be able to see where they were much more somehow open the door.

She passed her hand over the door and the wall beside it. The room was old, she could tell that much, but the walls seemed to be much more beaten down than she would have expected.

"Are those scratches?" she asked absent mindedly, trying to see better.

Luke got up and stood beside her, passing his hand over the wall as well, following the marks. "Werewolves," he said quietly, contemplating.

"Where are we, Luke?" She turned to look at him, trying to get an answer, even though she could barely see him anymore. 

She didn't know if he was going to answer, but he didn't have to because the silence outside was suddenly broken for the first time ever since they'd been there.

"I did not pass out, I was knocked out, completely different." Julie's hand instictively reached for Luke's arm. It wasn't just any voice, it was a familiar voice.

"That really makes me feel better..."

"Alex?" Luke called out.

They were met with silence, but then there were footsteps coming closer, stopping right outside their door. Some more muffled voices talking over each other and then the door bursted open and they were met with Reggie and Alex, stele on hand. Julie could literally feel Luke's defenses melting down in the sight of them.

"You came!" he said and Julie could now see his signature bright lighting-up-the-whole-room smile. He ran forward and wrapped his arms around both of them, the force of it making them take a step back, but they hugged him back nonetheless.

"Of course we did," Reggie said with a smile like it'd be weird to think otherwise.

"Idiot," Alex said wrapping his arm tighter around Luke, his voice muffled by Luke's shoulder. "Going and getting kidnapped without us."

"I think it worked out better like that," Julie piped in.

The boys seemed to register the sound of her voice at the same time as they stepped back and shouted "Julie!" and then she was also engulfed in a hug by Alex and Reggie. She squealed at first, not expecting it, but she was too relieved to have them there to not hug them back.

"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but maybe we should get the girls and get the hell out of here?" they heard a new voice and turned to her right to see another guy Julie recognized as Willie from a few photos Alex had showed her. The same Willie who was working for Caleb?

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked suddenly back to his guarded self and Julie couldn't help but agree.

"Oh no, Luke, big misunderstanding, everything's fine. Great even!" Alex hurried to say before things escalated.

Luke looked between Alex and Willie, who still looked a bit apprehensive about his reaction, for a second before sighing in relief and moving closer to the werewolf. "Thank the Angel," he said and Willie smiled as they did a little handshake. "I spent the past hour hating you, it wasn't fun," he added, Alex shaking his head amused next to Julie.

"He's right though, we should really get Carrie and Flynn and get out of here," Reggie said handing a stele to Julie, "before Caleb realizes what's going on."

And with that sentence the lights went out. They were dim at best, but now Julie could really see nothing. She hastily used the stele Reggie had given her to draw a Night Vision rune on her arm - just like some other basic runes - and quickly shook the disorienting feeling creeping up on her.

"Well that's not good," Alex said looking around.

"Where are-" Julie started to say when Willie's head snapped up towards the opposite direction.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, looking at him.

"Listen," Willie said and everyone fell quiet. Julie didn't realize what he was talking about at first, but then she heard it. It was faint and it was distant, but it was all too familiar.

"Any seraph blades, boys?" Julie asked, all of them still staring straight ahead.

Alex tossed one at her and Luke too beside him. "Flynn has your whip," he said.

Where _was_ Flynn?

The closer the sound was getting, the louder it was. There was more than one of them.

"I'll be right back," Willie said as he moved out of the way and into one of the rooms. Having a werewolf helping them out was a great choice, really.

"If we all get out of this unscathed," Julie started without tearing her eyes away from the end of the hallway, "we are so throwing a concert on the beach for everyone."

"Being in a band sounds so much better than being in an imaginary band," Alex said.

"We should come up with a name first, we can't just show up and sing," Reggie said from her left.

"You people cannot say things like that and then expect me to focus on our impending doom!" Luke argued.

"I said unscathed," Julie said, "so keep your head in the game."

"Yes, boss," Luke said and Julie noticed him smirking on the edge of her vision. They should really sit down and talk after this was all over.

Before they had a chance to say anything else, the place was swarming with demons. There weren't as many as that night Reggie got hurt, but it certainly did not look good for them. And Julie was good with a seraph blade, she'd learned to be much like every Shadowhunter, but she'd always had her whip with her, it was a comforting weight in her hand and, in her opinion, much better to work with.

She'd driven her blade through a creature's head watching it go up in flames when something fell into place inside her. 

_Flynn._

She turned around and saw Flynn and Carrie who had just showed up to the party, taking their place along with everyone else. Willie had jumped in taking a demon out who was going for Alex, tearing it apart like it was nothing. Luke didn't seem distracted and Reggie - if she was being honest - was the most energized out of all of them. He was the only one who had actually rested for the past two weeks.

Julie had been moving through the hallway closer to her parabatai when she finally managed to end up right behind Flynn.

"You're okay?" Flynn asked her without taking her eyes from the demon she'd just stabbed.

"I mean, I've definitely been better," Julie said as she ducked, Flynn turning around to throw one of her knives at the demon coming for her. "I think Luke's into me," she added knowing it wasn't going to be heard over the chaos.

"What? No, where did you get that from? Did he look at you?" Flynn said somehow managing a deadpan expression while still slicing through the demons around her. "Oh, hey, I got you something," she suddenly realized and grabbed something from her belt putting it into Julie's hand.

"I love you so freaking much," Julie said holding her hand out, the whip unwrapping. Now she could do some real damage.

The corridor was narrow, not leaving them much room to move around freely. They had to keep moving further down so they wouldn't be trapped on either side wall and the endless parade of creatures from hell wasn't really helping their situation. Julie couldn't have a repeat of what had happened with Reggie.

Willie's contributions were certainly shifting the result to their advantage. Julie didn't really know the guy - although she'd gone through a whole emotional rollercoaster about whether she should like him or not, she was leaning on the yes side after everything - but one thing was clear by what was going on. Nothing was going to touch Alex.

Then again Alex was known for having a fierce protective side which was why the second he saw something moving towards Luke and Reggie a few feet away from him, he ran, slipping past the chaos coming for him and cut through its body. Just as he pulled back though he was thrown all the way to the other side of the hallway falling on his right side. Julie had been inching to get closer and lashed her whip towards the demon that had pushed him away, squeezing hard and watching as ichor spilled all over the floor.

She ran over to Alex who had already gotten back up, but was wincing in pain. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying to stay aware of the area around her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said dismissing it, but just as soon as he waved his right hand he groaned and let it fall back at his side. "Okay, no that's broken. Left it is," he said twirling the dagger in his left hand and running right back in the fight.

Julie turned around to see that the corridor had started clearing up, almost all of the demons gone. She was about to exhale in relief when the darkness around them became even more prominent than before. Was that even possible?

They all heard a piercing sound as something else entered the area. Julie unconsciously took a step back just as the demon started gaining ground on them. She'd fought a lot of them, crawling, walking, flying, little ones, big ones, her life had been full of excitement. That thing however... It barely fit the corridor, almost touching the ceiling, a black botomless pit with teeth.

Everyone had frozen for a second until an arrow pierced through the air, embedding itself somewhere in the darkness, not doing much to stop it. That seemed to kick everyone into gear, as Reggie had abandoned the seraph blade, for the bow and arrow moving further and further away to have a better vantage point and more effective shots.

Julie, wasting no more time and hoping the thing was distracted enough by the arrows that kept coming, ran towards it, slipping by its side and towards the other side of the hallway. She lashed her whip forward, wrapping it around its feet (?), whatever that was, and pulled back with all the strength she had, feeling the Strength rune burning on her arm.

She could barely see what was happening on the other side, but she knew the others were coming at it with everything they had. Her grip though was starting to falter because the rune couldn't last forever and that thing was huge. Soon enough she came stumbling forward and the _thing_ was moving fast towards her friends who couldn't get too close and still had to clear the area of all the other little demons too.

Julie was breathing heavily trying to think of any ideas when her hand moved to her belt. She still had the seraph blade from before. She looked back at the demon, a crazy, stupid idea already forming in her head. Crazy enough to work?

She ran further down the other side of the hallway, away from eveyone drawing again runes for Agility, Balance, Stealth, Flexibility. And a Courage in Combat for good measure. She took a deep breath, wrapping her whip around her hand and grabbing the seraph blade tightly. Then she took off running.

Just as she was close enough, she used the momentum to jump and drove the seraph blade right through its back, slicing it open as she went down, making sure the heavenly fire engulfing it passed right through its whole body. The demon let out another ear splitting scream as it bursted into flames and slowly disappeared back to where it came from.

Julie looked over to see everyone else looking at her, no more demons on sight. That was good.

"Wow," Carrie said.

"You are an inspiration," Flynn pointed out as Julie walked over to them.

"Thank you," she said with a tired chuckle. 

"No, seriously, you made me say 'wow'," Carrie said. "I'm not very often left at a loss for words, you know."

"Ah, well, I try," Julie said not failing to notice how Luke was still looking at her the same way he had when he'd realized she had a good singing voice. "Can we leave now?" she asked wanting to just take a shower and sleep for about a week.

"Funny how you thought I didn't have a contigency plan," they heard a new voice coming from the end of the hallway where all the demons had appeared from.

Caleb.

Julie was really not in the mood for this right now.

"Yeah, nice touch with the demon parade. Look, dude, there's seven of us and one of you, what are you going to do?" Flynn said, ready to just fling herself at him if he so much as looked at any of them wrong.

Julie felt Reggie softly catching her hand behind her back ever so slowly, as not raise any suspicion and then there was the familiar burn of a rune forming. She tried to follow the pattern, but she couldn't understand which one it was and why Reggie had chosen to do this now.

"Use your whip," he whispered quietly behind her. Julie didn't move, acknowledging his words, but she knew he wouldn't wait for confirmation.

"Do we really need to have a repeat from last time? Also, William," Caleb said turning to Willie, "I'm really disappointed in how things turned out. Not surprised, but still disappointed. I thought we understood each other."

Julie had just enough time to register the movement beside her and then Reggie had fired three arrows right at Caleb who stopped them, hovering a few feet in front of him, with relative ease. He actually looked bored if anything.

"Reginald, you're not very bright, are you?" he said condescendingly.

"Ah, well, had to try," Reggie said, Julie hearing the smile in his voice.

"Close your eyes," he told her just as all three arrows beeped and exploded, filling the corridor with smoke.

Julie expected to start coughing and choking like everyone else when she actually found it easy to breathe through it all.

_The rune._

She wasted no time unwrapping her whip, her eyes still closed, but Caleb's position still very much clear in her head. She hadn't been practising taking things out in the dark with Flynn for nothing.

She ran towards him, lashing her whip forward one last time, just where she heard movement in front of her. She tried to aim for his waist, hoping to get his hands in too. Just as she felt the whip wrapping itself around the warlock she pulled slightly back to secure her hold and lashed it to the side hearing a thump.

She opened her eyes, stinging from the smoke that was still heavy around her and walked closer to see Caleb's body on the floor, effectively knocked out. She finally breathed out in relief.

She turned around running towards her friends who didn't sound like they were dying anymore, just able to discern them as the smoke started clearing up. They were lucky this place was huge.

"That was too risky," she said looking at Reggie.

"It worked, didn't it?" he offered with a smile. "I mean you just catapulted into whatever that thing was before, this was nothing."

"Where's Willie?" Alex asked looking around. Julie realised the wolf was nowhere to be seen.

"I pushed him in the room just when the arrows exploded," Reggie said pointing at one of the closed doors beside them. "They are pretty air tight, the smoke wouldn't get in at least not before the area had started clearing out. I mean, I can't draw a rune for him and I figured you wouldn't want him to suffocate."

Alex looked at him. "Yeah, no, thank you," he said as if still in a daze.

"Now we can go," Reggie said answering Julie's earlied question.

No one moved, all of them still staring at him like they did Julie before.

"You're brilliant," Flynn said.

"I'm really not," Reggie rushed to say.

"You really are," Alex and Luke said in unison.

"I-" Reggie started, but was cut off.

"Shut up and take the compliment," Flynn said pointing a finger at him and Julie believed the boys had gotten to know Flynn well enough by now to not push it any further. It wasn't like she'd lied anyway.

The air had pretty much cleared out, so Alex turned to open the door Reggie had shoved Willie through. He was a bit surprised to say the least when he was met with human Willie, wearing the clothes he had before - great choice on Reggie's part to go with the room he'd changed in -, who just walked out, grabbed Alex and kissed him.

Alex swayed a bit when he pulled back murmuring a soft 'okay' as he looked down, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"So when are we getting the concert?" Willie asked, turning to the rest of them.

"Uh, well, I wouldn't say exactly 'unscathed'," Alex said raising his right hand, looking at his wrist which was definitely broken from before.

"Dude, you hurt your _right_ hand again?" Luke looked at him as if personally offended by his injury.

"I'm sorry, Luke, next time I'll tell the demons to keep in mind that Luke wants to be a guitarist when he grows up," Alex said rolling his eyes.

"Unbelievable," Luke said under his breath as he shook his head.

If both him and Reggie hovered by Alex's side on the way back, drawing iratzes and other kinds of runes on his arm to make sure he wasn't in pain, well, who was Julie to say?


	23. You're Alec Lightwood

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Alex asked.

"You doubt me?" Willie asked with a raised eyebrow although he had a playful smile on.

"No, but you're not a doctor either..."

"Alex, I promise you I've done this a million times," Willie said reassuringly.

"Why?" Reggie asked.

"Werewolf healing kicks in fast, if you don't set the bone quickly it will heal the wrong way and then you have to break it again," Willie explained making all three boys flinch in sympathy. "My point is, I can set your wrist."

"Okay," Alex said still hesitant, not because he didn't trust him, he just didn't want to make things worse. He kind of needed his hand.

"In the end of the day it's just a simple question of do you want to play drums again?" Luke casually said from his other side.

"What?" Alex snapped his head to him just when Willie set his wrist with a sharp crack making him yelp in pain. "Ouch!" He looked pointedly at Willie.

"See? All better!" he said with a smile.

"That did not feel better," Alex said cradling his hand closer to his chest. He didn't miss Luke subconsciously shaking his right hand as if to loosen it up or Reggie rubbing his right wrist with his other hand, not even registering the movement. He shook his head with a small smile.

"Okay, I talked to Diana and called back home," Julie was saying as she came into the living room.

"It's 6 am," Luke said.

"We have an unconscious warlock, we can't just keep him here," Julie said. "Unlike popular belief, we do need some help."

"Who's qualified enough to help in this situation?" Reggie asked.

"Well," Julie started to say when the golden sparks of a portal forming right in front of the couch distracted everyone. "He is," Julie said pointing at the portal.

Alex looked over confused and was even more surprised when the first person to jump through went straight for Luke, pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

"Tavvy?" Luke asked confused instinctively hugging him back because Luke was never one to refuse a hug from anyone.

"Are you okay?" Tavvy asked as he pulled back to look at him. And sure everyone was exhausted and he felt like the twenty two hours he'd gotten just a day before hadn't made a difference, but they'd at least changed into clean clothes and that was definitely a big deal.

"Yeah, I'm great," Luke said still a bit confused as to how Tavvy was there, but not failing to give out a reassuring smile and vibe in general.

Seconds later two more people filed into the room through the portal that disappeared behind them.

"Who opened a portal for you guys?" Julie asked looking in between the three of them.

"I did!" Max said excited.

"I mean we're probably getting grounded, but there was a good reason for it so that's what we're gonna go with at the hearing," Rafe added with a nod of his head.

Julie was about to say something more when another portal suddenly opened right where the previous one had been and Alex momentarily froze.

"What have I said about creating portals without telling me?"

"There was a good reason for it," Max and Rafe said at the same time.

"It's 6 am, you were supposed to be asleep!" Magnus said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well... Don't you think the situation required an exception?" Rafe said pleading on his emotional side. Alex was still on the other side of the room next to Willie, trying to comprehend what was happening right in front of him inside his own home. Had Julie just casually called Magnus to come over?

"A heads up would have been nice," a new voice joined the group just as the portal disappeared and Alex's left hand instinctively flew over to grab Willie's arm. Willie turned to look at him tilting his head confused, but Alex's brain had stopped functioning.

"I'm sure you did much worse when you were our age," Rafe said raising an eyebrow.

"We are never leaving our children with Jace ever again," Magnus said.

"I mean Clary balances him out pretty well," Alec said, "and anyway I thought there was another issue at hand..." he trailed off looking at Julie.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a whole family reunion, but I'll take it," she said with a smile. "So... We kind of need your help with Caleb."

Alex noticed Luke whispering something at Tavvy as he tugged at his hand and they walked out of the room. He figured Luke had more he wanted to tell him, but if Julie and the rest of them were going to explain what exactly had happened with Caleb and how the Black Volume of the Dead fit into everything... Well, it'd be better if Tavvy wasn't there.

Rafe looked in between his future parabatai and everyone else, not sure what the right course of action was there, but before he could say anything Julie piped in. "You guys wanna go find Flynn?"

And both Rafe and Max's reluctance was pretty evident, but before they could say no, Reggie gave them his this-is-the-best-thing-ever smile and gestured for them to follow him saying, "I'll take you," leaving less and less people in the room. Alex was hoping he was somehow becoming invisible.

"Okay, can we just address something important first?" Magnus asked. "Is Alexander a family name? Is it a Lightwood thing? Like the Herondales have Jonathan and Cristopher and apparently nothing else in between?"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration..." Alec said. "I guess it is though, there was another Alexander Lightwood during the... 1900's? Is that right?" Alec turned to look at Alex for confirmation.

"Uhm..." Alex trailed off, willing his head and mouth to start working again.

_You're not talking, why aren't you talking? He's gonna think you're weird and he's gonna be right because you're weird and you can't answer a simple question and what kind of-_

Everything suddenly quietend down when he felt a hand in his. He looked to his left to see Willie smiling at him.

"I, uhm, yeah," Alex said clearing his throat as he turned his attention back to Alec and Magnus, "1900-1971. My parents actually wanted me to learn the whole Lightwood family tree," he added when he saw their surprise.

"Really?" Magnus asked. "There's so many of you, how do you manage?"

Alex actually chuckled at that, starting to feel more comfortable. "It's not-" he started to say, absent mindedly waving his right hand and wincing in pain, his other hand flying to grab it. This was going to make his life miserable for a while, wasn't it?

"What's wrong?" Alec asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Alex hurried to say, "just a broken wrist. Willie set it. Oh yeah, this is Willie, Alpha of the pack here in LA," he added realizing they wouldn't know who that was.

"Hi." Willie waved at them smiling like always. "I've heard a lot about you two."

"All good things I hope," Magnus said as he came closer. "Here, healing magic isn't my forte but I can definitely fix a wrist."

"You don't have to-" Alex started to say, but Magnus moved his hand in dismissal between them cutting him off.

"Alex, please, you're family. It's the least I can do," Magnus said giving him a smile.

Alex - certain now that he must be living through an alternate universe - extended his hand towards him. Magnus did some complicated movements with his hands and then there was a blue glow moving over his wrist. It was warm and weird, but when the magic was gone so was the pain. Alex turned his hand around knowing it was fixed, but still surprised he didn't feel any pain anymore.

"Thank you," he said looking at Magnus.

"Don't mention it," Magnus said and turned to Julie. "So, Caleb?"

"Yes, come with me," Julie said and made to leave the room.

Magnus moved towards Alec and whispered something to him that made him look confused. Alex saw him mouthing 'why?' and Magnus chuckled, shaking his head.

"Willie," Magnus called him as he turned back around, "it'd be great if you could help us out with everything."

"Me?" Willie asked confused. "Okay, I guess, sure."

He looked at Alex who against every anxious thought going through his head, nodded. Willie joined Magnus as they started walking outside the room after Julie.

"Fun fact, did you know that just as graceful as the Lightwood men are in the battlefield, sending a smile their way will make them fall down an entire flight of stairs?" Alex heard Magnus saying as they moved further away.

"By the Angel, Magnus!" Alec called after him. "It's been thirteen years," he added more to Alex than his husband.

Alex looked at him not sure if he should laugh, smile or freak out. Sure, he'd met Alec before, but it was always for a couple of minutes, surrounded by other people, they'd never actually had any conversations or anything. This was weird. Was this weird? It was weird.

"Are you okay?" Alec asked. "I'm just asking because you look like you're about to flee."

"What? No, no..." Alex rushed to say, but suddenly changed it into, "maybe? It's just..." He tried to put it into words. "You're Alec Lightwood."

"And that's... good, bad?" Alec asked trying to understand what Alex was getting at.

"Good!" Alex's hands shot out. "Definitely good, I just..." He sighed. "I'm an anxious person and I've like, been looking up to you ever since I was six, so this is a bit weird for me."

Alec looked at him with the same confused expression he'd been looking at Magnus before. "Me?"

"What?" Alex asked confused himself.

"You've been looking up to _me_ ever since you were six?" he said. "I mean... why?"

"Why?" Alex asked personally offended that he would even wonder. Wait, what was he doing? He was going to argue with Alec about why he'd been looking up to Alec? 

Yeah, no, that sounded like something he'd do.

"You kissed Magnus in front of the entire Clave right before the Mortal War without giving a damn! You went to Edom and back, you founded the Shadowhunter-Downworlder Alliance and then you were elected Consul! Like, leader of all Shadowhunters everywhere. We have a gay Consul who's married to a warlock with two kids one of which is also a warlock!" Alex said getting more and more excited as he went through everything. He wasn't a hundred percent sure he wasn't imagining the whole thing. "This is just... I mean you know how a lot of Shadowhunters can get. Not everyone's accepting. Of a lot of things," he added a bit more surrowful.

Alec didn't answer immediately, but he seemed to have understood why Alex was so passionate about everything. Alex couldn't understand how Alec could doubt that someone could be looking up to him.

"My parents weren't exactly what I'd call supportive after I kissed Magnus right in front of everyone," he said. "I was the one supposed to uphold the family legacy, you know? They had a very specific idea about what that legacy was supposed to be." And Alex could cry right there and then by how much he could relate to that. "I moved out of the Institute and in with Magnus the second the whole mess with the Cold Peace was over. I think it was easier for my mom to come to terms with it, my dad was just... I don't know. It was hard. But things got better. Especially after we adopted Max..." he said with a faint smile. 

"I don't think grandkids are my parents' main concern..." Alex trailed off.

"I know, Alex, and I don't want to tell you that everything will definitely work out in the end because what the hell do I know? I don't think my dad and I ever saw eye to eye. He tried to be better, but we never got to what I'd call an easy, casual relationship. It didn't bother me as much after a while, but it was hard at times. Especially when I was younger. I had people who didn't care about any of it though and wanted the best for me. And then I met Magnus and that was a whole rollercoaster of emotions to be honest," he said with a chuckle in the end.

Alex didn't know what to say. He felt something warm inside of him, he wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or smile, but just standing there talking with someone who got it, who _really_ got it, way more than even Alex had been aware... It meant too much to him.

"You have Luke and Reggie and the whole Blackthorn family from what I understand," Alec said with a smile, "and sometimes that might not feel like enough because no matter what your parents have done, you still want them to accept you and love you for who you are. But these people here..."

"They're my family," Alex said. If there was one thing he was certain about in life, it was that.

Alec smiled. "And just know that if you ever need anything you can always call. I mean I'm a little bit all over the place because being the Consul needs a bit of work, you know, but I always make time when needed."

"Y-You would make time for me?" Alex asked.

"You know, I'm much nicer than you think," Alec said with a smile.

He was obviously messing with him, but Alex still felt the need to shout out. "Νο! You're great, I mean you're a normal person, it's almost weird."

Alec bursted out laughing. "You'd be surprised," he said.

"You didn't really fall down a flight of stairs, did you?" Alex asked him.

"Do you want me to tell you the truth or do you want to preserve the legend of Alec Lightwood?" Alec said still amused.

Alex chuckled. "I mean if I can attribute my awkwardness to my last name, I'd feel better," he said. "I'm just hoping Magnus didn't elaborate much about the Lightwoods after that."

"Yeah..." Alec said his voice wavering, meaning Alex was definitely screwed. "Willie seems great though, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Alex smiled, but then suddenly remembered. Willie. And Alec is the Consul...

"Hey, can I ask- I mean something kind of happened, but not really and I think you may be able to help? I'm not trying to like take advantage of you or anything, really..."

"What's wrong?"

"Caleb had been blackmailing the werewolves for something that happened a few months ago even though the perpetrators were thrown out of the pack. They didn't come forward all this time because, well..."

"They were afraid," Alec said with a sigh. "God, every time I think it's getting better something proves me wrong."

"It _is_ getting better," Alex said, "but you can't really blame them for having reservations."

"Of course not," Alec said. "I'll have to talk to Willie, just to get things cleared out, but they don't have to worry about anything. I don't think Caleb's going to be talking to anyone for a while."

"That's... it's good to hear," Alex said, smiling. "So, I'm pretty sure Magnus took Willie along just to leave us alone so should we just go look for them?"

Alec smiled back. "Sure."

They climbed down the stairs, passing by Tavvy, Luke and Reggie on the hall. Luke and Reggie noticed him walking with Alec, giving him two bright smiles which Alex returned.

"Oh uhm, when we heard Magnus talking on the phone I kind of freaked out and I think I did something bad," Tavvy said looking in between all three of them, making Alex stop to stand beside Reggie.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

Before Tavvy could answer, they heard a third portal opening right behind them and before either of them could turn around, a voice reverberated around the room.

"What the hell has been happening here?"

Luke, Alex and Reggie froze and glanced at each other not sure what they were supposed to do or say. They slowly turned around trying not to act as suspicious as they actually were. The fact that they all uttered the same two words at the same time didn't exactly help their case.

"Hey, Julian."


	24. A Perfect Harmony

"So, you know, it was 5:30 and we were awake and then Magnus was suddenly talking on the phone and we might have overheard what was happening, through no fault of our own, but it was still not really clear and what am I supposed to do? Not wake Max up so he can make us a portal to come here? That's just absurd," Tavvy said.

"You can't just disappear through portals like that," Luke said even though it felt kind of nice having his brother back even for a little while.

"You've done far worse with far less," Tavvy said.

"I shouldn't be your role model, choose another sibling, we have many," Luke said even though he was kind of enjoying it.

"No one in this family has ever stayed quiet," Tavvy retorted and if they were being honest, he was kind of right.

"How is New York?" Luke asked with a smile, wanting to get as much as he could out of this before they had to separate again.

"Much quieter than I thought," he answered, "I mean there are Shadowhunters around but it's not like it is here and then Julie and Flynn left too so Rafe and I don't really have anyone to argue with about the training rooms. Carlos said Julie liked it here though."

Luke might have smiled a bit brighter at that. She'd said so a lot of times but it was nice knowing she was talking about it to her family too. And of course Tavvy didn't miss that.

"He also said she plays the piano," he added, "so I'm guessing you didn't actually drag her in the music room."

"See? You all immediately think the worse about me," Luke said noticing Reggie coming down the stairs.

"I'm also guessing you're probably in love with her," he added.

"No..." Luke said not really sounding convincing and he heard Reggie snorting a few feet away.

"Aha!" Tavvy pointed at him.

"What?" Luke looked between the two of them trying to play it off cool and spectacularly failing.

"If I may intervene," Reggie said as he came closer.

"And you should," Tavvy said.

"You're so far gone I'm surprised you haven't written her a song yet," Reggie said with a smirk. And Luke was about to answer something to that but he was still wondering. Julie's song. Could it have been about him?

"Oh uhm, speaking of songs," Tavvy said suddenly more timid than before, "I found this in between my stuff, not that I took it, but it somehow ended up in there." He took out Luke's pick from his pocket holding towards him. "I figured you'd want it back."

Luke looked at him partially surprised, he didn't really expect him to bring it back. He had definitely not mentioned it again, not after Julie had knocked some sense into him.

"Keep it," Luke said with a smile. "I mean if I'm going to be your role model you should have something to remember me by while you're away," he added his smile turning into a smirk.

"You are not my role model," Tavvy deadpaned but Luke could discern a smile under it.

"Too bad, I should be," he said just as Alex climbed down the stairs too, along with Alec. And Alex was still standing? That was great.

Luke smiled at him as they walked by, Alex smiling back.

"Oh uhm, when we heard Magnus talking on the phone I kind of freaked out and I think I did something bad," Tavvy suddenly said looking in between all three of them, making Alex stop and stand beside Reggie.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

Before Tavvy could answer, they heard a third portal opening right behind them and before either of them could turn around, a voice reverbarated around the room.

"What the hell has been happening here?"

Luke, Alex and Reggie froze and glanced at each other not sure what they were supposed to do or say. They slowly turned around trying to play it cool even though they definitely weren't. 

"Hey, Julian," they all said together.

"Don't 'hey, Julian' me, what has been going on here?" he asked again coming closer although he seemed more concerned than angry.

"This is a big misunderstanding," Luke started to say.

"Alec is standing right there, Luke," Julian said pointing at Alec. "Why is the Consul here at 6 am if everything's fine?"

"He has a point, boys," Alec said with an apologetic smile, sending a look at Alex who nodded and left them to talk with Julian. Luke didn't know what that was about, but Alex looked a bit more relieved than he did before.

"Tavvy, give us a moment," Julian said.

Tavvy hesitated, but eventually smiled at Luke sending a silent apology and left them alone. This was exactly what Luke had been trying to avoid.

"So... What did Tavvy exactly say?" Luke asked.

"No, I want to hear what you three have to say," Julian said crossing his arms over his chest. "Alex?" he tried his best shot because really, Alex was probably the only one who could make this somehow make sense so they'd all get away with it.

"Uhm... Okay, so you know how we were expecting two Shadowhunters from New York?" Alex started.

"Yeah..." Julian said waiting for him to continue.

"Yeah, so they came and that was great because there were some demons in the beach that day and well, then a few weeks went by and then Reggie almost died-"

"What?" Julian cut him off turning to Reggie who didn't expect to be put under the spotlight.

"Oh, uhm, I'm fine! Brother Enoch was here and then I apparently slept for like three days and then Alex wouldn't let me leave the Institute, but now I'm great, good as new," Reggie rushed to ease any concerns.

Julian looked at him, an exasperated expression on his face, his hand pinching the bridge of his nose as he muttered something incomprehensible under his breath. He took a few steps forward pulling Reggie into a hug. Reggie fell into it confused at first, but eventually melted against him, hugging him back. Luke wasn't sure if Julian realized how important it was for Reggie that he actually cared about him like that or if he just instinctively did things like that.

"Keep going," Julian said as he pulled back.

"Okay, long story short, there's been a bunch of demons these past few weeks and it was all Caleb and then he kidnapped Julie and Luke because he wanted to talk to you and then we took him down and everything's fine now," Alex blurted out. Why did Luke think Alex could clear things up calmly?

Julian looked at them, about to speak a few times but then closing his mouth in despair. He was probably thinking that leaving them alone hadn't been a good idea, which Luke was willing to defend until the end. "Why did Caleb want to talk to me?" he eventually asked calmly choosing to focus on that for the time being.

"Uhm..." all three of them trailed off, their voices going a bit higher.

"You do realize if you tell me the truth we can just move on, right?" Julian said.

"You say that now, but then we'll tell you the truth and you'll throw us out of the Institute and where will we live, Julian?" Luke said being extra dramatic.

"I don't own the Institute, Luke," Julian deadpaned.

"So if you did, you _would_ throw us out?" Reggie asked half joking half serious.

"No one's getting thrown out!" Julian put an end to that conversation. "Okay, what am I doing, I should just go ask Carrie," he added, but Luke stopped him. If he was going to find out, it should be from him.

"Okay, no, I'll tell you," Luke said glancing at the boys beside him who seemed to get the message and started to go. "Ask Willie if I can move in with him," he added.

"You are not moving in with Willie," Alex said.

"Why not, you wouldn't even realize I was there," Luke said.

"Willie? The new Alpha?" Julian looked at them confused.

"Yeah, you know, a lot of things have happened this past month... We'll talk about some other time," Alex said as he and Reggie walked away leaving them alone to talk. Luke noticed Julian smiling slightly but he was back to concern as he turned to look at him.

"So?" Julian asked softly.

"You have to promise not to freak out," Luke started.

"I never freak out."

"You have to promise not to freak out even when you're alone because everything's okay now," Luke insisted.

"Luke..."

"He was looking for the Black Volume of the Dead," he said.

Julian froze. It didn't last long because Julian had always been good at comparmentalizing, but Luke knew it'd be a shock.

"The book is gone," he said.

"I know and we told him repeatedly, but he wasn't convinced and thought you might know something more and then he got me and Julie and I was supposed to send you a fire message but I sent it to Reggie because you know, they either get us out or they eventually contact you, but we nailed that and now we're here and very tired to be honest," Luke said. Maybe it wasn't the right time to fall asleep, but it was 6 am and he hadn't slept since last night - not counting the time he'd spent unconscious - and if he kept going like this it was a very real possibility he'd end up like Alex had a couple of days ago.

"Luke," Julian started to say, but for once he seemed to be at a loss for words. Huh, that didn't usually happen. He eventually opted for the second best thing and pulled him into a hug. It was nice. Luke was the one usually expressing affection, but he'd never missed a hug from anyone. It was nice to have more family back, maybe he didn't like the quiet Institute that much.

"I'm sorry," Julian said with a sigh.

"What?" Luke asked confused as he pulled back to look at him. "Aren't I the one who should be apologizing?"

"It's not your fault people suppose I know much more than I do," Julian said pulling him back in. Luke chuckled slightly. He wasn't the only one who liked giving out hugs.

"You don't, do you?" Luke asked a little part of him wanting to make sure. Julian would keep a lot of things unsaid if it meant he keeping his family safe, but he wouldn't outright lie to him.

"No, Luke, I don't," he said with a sigh, "and it keeps me up at some nights, but I can't face a crisis that hasn't occured yet." He eventually pulled back and looked at him. "You should have contacted me though," he added.

"We took care of it," Luke said, "quite efficiantly if I might add. You should have seen Julie, she just-"

"I don't doubt any of you, but this was about me and you should have never got caught in the middle," Julian said.

"I just..." Luke started. "I figured you didn't need a repeat of what happened last time if we could avoid it." It was far too familiar. A warlock had kidnapped Tavvy when they were younger because of that book with every intent of killing him, what would Julian say if he found out something so similar had happened again? "I didn't tell Tavvy what exactly happened. I mean I told him about Caleb, he already knew, but I didn't mention the book. I thought it'd be better."

Julian gave him a sad, grateful smile. "Luke, that's... That's not your cross to bear. You don't have to protect me."

"Oh, I would never, but you see, I have this brother who would go through hell if it meant the rest of us didn't get hurt and he inspires me to do stuff," Luke said with a smirk looking at him.

Julian breathed a laugh. "He sounds nice."

"Eh, he's alright." Luke smiled.

"It's never wrong to ask for help though."

"I know," he said, "that's why I did." He trusted Reggie and Alex more than anything. They would never let anything happen to him either.

"So, why is Alec here?" Julian asked, the tension having eased around them.

"Oh everyone is here, come," Luke said gesturing for Julian to follow him. They walked up to the library where they found everyone other than Magnus and Julie. It'd been a while since the Institute was as crowded.

"Everything okay?" Alex asked him quietly as he stood beside him.

"Yeah," Luke said with a smile which Alex returned. "What happened with you and Alec?"

"Dude, I think my anxiety is cured," he said making them both laugh.

"I don't think Julian will let me leave the Institute either if he stays here," Reggie said coming closer. "He just told me I look pale. I always look pale!"

"Aww and you thought _I_ was overprotective," Alex said with a smile.

"I don't think he's staying, I mean he wasn't even supposed to be here," Luke said looking over at Julian who was talking to Tavvy and the others. "Caleb is gone, there's really no threat anymore..." he added figuring how long he should wait before he asked.

"Julie is with Magnus," Alex said.

"I didn't say anything," Luke defended even though he'd somehow read his mind.

"You don't have to, you tend to gravitate towards each other," he said with a smirk.

"It's true, we all keep talking about it," Reggie said with a nod.

"All?" Luke questioned.

"Oh yeah, bets were made," Alex continued. "Willie joined in too," he said looking at his boyfriend who was currently talking with Flynn and Carrie.

"Bets?" Luke almost shouted when he remembered there were more people in the room.

"Yeah, it didn't work well, we all lost," Reggie said. "You should really do something about that."

"What has been happening behind my back?" Luke wondered out loud.

"I think the real question should be how often do you two disappear together because we've already decided who are going to be your children's godparents," Alex said making Luke choke on air.

Before he could somehow even begin to answer to that, the door opened, Magnus and Julie coming inside.

"Everything okay?" Carrie asked.

"Of course, I sent him to my sixth favorite Shadowhunter," Magnus said with a smile walking over to his family.

Everyone turned to look at Alec, expecting some kind of clarification. "He means Jace," he said. "You know he's gonna find one day that you've put Simon higher than him and he's gonna freak out."

"You're telling me you don't want to see that even a little bit?" Magnus asked with a smirk which just made Alec chuckle.

Luke looked over at Julie who was smiling at the whole conversation, her face lightling up even after everything that'd happened. Okay, maybe the guys were right he was too far gone.

"Hey, crazy question," Flynn spoke up and everyone turned to look at her. "Since we're not going to sleep, is anyone up for breakfast?"

* * *

Julie was sitting on the piano bench writing and crossing out lyrics until she gave up with a groan and let her head fall on the top of the piano. This wasn't working, why wasn't this working? She had some parts, they were great, but there were also a lot of things missing. What was she supposed to do with the blanks?

The door suddenly opened and Luke came inside, guitar in hand. She'd noticed it missing from the music room but it wasn't surprising, really, she knew it'd become an extension of Luke. He sat down right beside her on the piano bench, Julie having moved over instictively to make room for him, and held his guitar up without saying anything.

Julie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. It'd been a week ever since the whole Caleb thing and it was suddenly so much quieter than before, meaning everyone was well rested and had enough free time to work on other stuff too. Stuff like music. And Julie hadn't really elaborated on her song anymore - Luke hadn't really asked about it or offered any lyrics - but they'd been going over the melody. She thought she'd tell him at some point. Maybe when it was finished.

Without saying anything, Luke moved his fingers through the strings and started playing. Julie was confused as to why there were no words spoken when Luke was always talking about ~~music~~ something, but she would recognize that rhythm everywhere.

Her song.

The next part came as an even bigger surprise though.

_"Step into my world_   
_Bittersweet love story about a girl_   
_Shook me to the core_   
_Voice like an angel, I've never heard before..."_

He wrote lyrics?

Julie was still looking at him shocked, but when he stopped and nodded at her with a smile she snapped out of it. She turned to the piano and joined in with her part.

_"Here in front of me  
Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen  
Life can be so mean  
But when he goes I know he doesn't leave..."_

Luke smiled at the sound of her voice and moved on to join her to the pre-chorus. Piano and guitar melting together as did their voices, harmonizing.

_"The truth is finally breaking through  
Two worlds collide when I'm with you  
Our voices rise and soar so high  
We come to life when we're  
In perfect harmony  
Woah, woah  
Perfect harmony  
Woah, woah  
Perfect harmony"_

Julie wasn't sure if she was supposed to continue. She didn't know for how many of the empty parts he'd written lyrics for. Just as her fingers eased up on the keys though, he continued.

_"You set me free  
You and me together is more than chemistry  
Love me as I am  
I'll hold your music here inside my hands..."_

Julie couldn't help the smile that was spreading on her face as she was the one to join him that time.

_"We say we're friends, we play pretend  
You're more to me, we're everything  
Our voices rise and soar so high  
We come to life when we're  
In perfect harmony  
Woah, woah  
Perfect harmony  
Woah, woah  
Perfect harmony"_

She had the bridge figured out, at least by herself, but it didn't seem to bother either of them as they each went through the lyrics like they'd been rehearsing this for a while.

_"I feel your rhythm in my heart, yeah"  
_

_"You are my brightest, burning star, woah-woah"  
_

_"I never knew a love so real"  
_

_"So real"_

_"We're heaven on earth, melody and words  
And when we are together we're  
In perfect harmony  
Woah, woah  
Perfect harmony  
Woah, woah..."_

Julie laid off the piano, leaving Luke to finish up with his guitar.

 _"We say we're friends..."_ she sang quietly as she turned around to look at him.

 _"We play pretend..."_ he sang back.

 _"You're more to me..."_ Julie's voice could barely be heard over the melody.

 _"We create..."_ Luke sang strumming his guitar one last time as he solely focused his attention on her.

_"A perfect harmony."_

They were both looking at each other. No one talked.

Julie leaned in at the same time Luke did, their lips meeting in the middle. Her hands flew around his neck as if almost making sure he was there, that this was actually true. Luke kissed her with the same intensity, somehow pourring the same passion he did in music, in that kiss.

They eventually pulled back, their foreheads touching. Julie was breathless, was it the singing, was it the kissing she didn't know, Maybe a mixture both. She was definitely not complaining about either.

She chuckled making Luke laugh too.

"You wrote a love song about me," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, well, you finished it," she said not able to wipe the smile off her face either. "So we can share."

"I'd be honored," he said.

Julie smiled even wider - if that was even possible - and leaned in to kiss him again. "I like this," she said with a contented sigh.

"I like you," Luke said.

Julie chuckled. "I like you too, Luke."

Luke smiled brightly as if the song and the kiss hadn't been clear enough.

"The others are going to be so excited," she added as an afterthought thinking about Flynn's comments.

"You know they made bets, right? They got Willie in on it too," Luke said.

"Flynn said they all lost because we're clueless," Julie said with a nod.

"What? Hey, I'm not clueless, I was fully aware I liked you, I'll take flustered, thank you very much," Luke defended himself in what Julie would consider a weird way.

"So, as much as I'd love to keep doing this for a while, we have work to do," Julie said as she pulled slightly back. It wasn't like there was much space between them on the bench anyway, their thighs were still touching.

"What work?" Luke tilted his head confused.

"How are we gonna do a concert on the beach without practising and finishing at least a few more songs?" Julie asked. "I mean we obviously need Reggie and Alex, but there are some lyrics we should finish before-"

"Wait, wait, I thought you said unscathed? Alex broke his wrist," Luke said.

"Yeah, but Magnus put it back together so did it even happen? I won't tell if you don't," Julie said with a smile. Not like she still wouldn't have suggested going ahead with it even if someone had gotten any other minor injury.

Luke looked at her for a second with that same expression he'd had when he'd first heard her sing, learnt she wrote music and then taken out that demon last week. Before Julie could say anything, Luke left his guitar down and pulled her face towards him, kissing her just as passionately as before.

Okay, maybe they could do this for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!  
> So, this is the last chapter before the epilogue, but I actually turned this into a series because I suddenly had a few more - mainly one shots - ideas about this universe and I'm determined to write them down! (we'll see how that goes :p)


	25. Epilogue: Tell Your Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Just a heads up that I keep changing povs in the epilogue, but it's easy to follow I promise :p

Julie had never seen so many Shadowhunters in the LA Institute. And most of them were permanent residents as well. And sure, the Institute was huge, there was no problem or an issue of space, but it was still weird. And her dad and brother hadn't even arrived yet. She still hadn't met everyone, they'd all showed up within seconds of each other and were still hugging and reconnecting with the rest of their family.

"New York is so quiet, isn't it?" Flynn said from beside her, leaning back into Carrie who had her arms around her.

"Is that good or bad?" Julie asked her.

"I'm not sure," Flynn said, "I'd have to meet everyone."

Carrie chuckled. "You have a few hours?"

"You have one hour tops," Julie said, "use it wisely."

"Come on, you should meet Emma," Carrie said taking her hand and leading her into the chaos. Julie smiled looking after her.

Right on time, a new portal opened and her dad and Carlos moved through it.

"Hey, guys!" Julie grinned as she ran over to pull them into a hug. "I've missed you."

"We've missed you too, mija," her dad said. "And I have to say, I did not expect this," he added with a smile.

"Yeah, you and I both," she said still trying to shake some nerves. She didn't know why she was nervous, if anything this was something she was good at. And she wasn't doing it alone.

"So, where's the boy band?" Carlos asked looking around.

"They're not a boy band, Carlos," Julie said with a chuckle as she looked around to see if she could spot any of them. As if on cue, Luke looked up from where he was talking with Julian and another guy who didn't seem to share the physical characteristics most of the Blackthorn siblings had, but she could definitely spot the similarities.

Julie waved him over and after saying something to his brothers, Luke broke off and all but skipped over to where she was. "Hey," he said with a smile.

"Hey." Julie couldn't help but smile back. "Dad, Carlos, this is Luke," she said introducing him.

"Hello," Luke said, Julie noticing a slight nervousness in his voice. 

"You are the boy who got my daughter into music again?" her dad asked him.

"Uhm... yeah?" Luke said a bit uncertain looking between Julie and her dad.

Julie smiled knowing where this was going, but Luke was surprised to say the least when her dad pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," he said.

"Oh, you really don't need to thank me about anything," Luke said as they pulled back, "Julie is the main reason we're all here today."

"That's not true..." Julie started to say.

"Well, it kind of is..." Luke disagreed. "You think the three of us would have made it this far alone?"

Alex and Reggie were standing a few feet away looking over at them.

"How many times do you think he's complimented her by now?" Alex asked Reggie with a smile watching Luke speaking to Julie's dad animatedly.

"Well, he's already been there for twenty seconds, so I don't know, five times?" Reggie said making them both chuckle.

"Is that Julie?" a new voice joined them and they turned around to see Dru approaching them, looking over at Luke. The Institute was once again full of people and even though Alex wasn't really fond of big crowds, it was nice to have everyone back. He'd missed the Blackthorns.

"Yes," they both answered.

"Is Luke aware that are other people in the room?" she asked with a chuckle.

"When he's around her? Not really, no," Alex said.

"It's not even funny, I threw a stele at him the other day while Julie was passing by and it hit him on the head," Reggie said.

"Well, that was kind of funny," Alex interjected.

"Alex, you do realize you're not any better, right?" Reggie turned to him. "I almost shot you with an arrow during training because Carrie let Willie in and he came over at the training room."

"Yeah, but Luke pulled me to the side," Alex said as if it wasn't a big deal. 

"That does not make it better!"

"At least I admit it," Alex said having been in a loving relationship for two months now - thank you very much -, "Luke tries to play it cool. Which is funny because he almost fell off the stairs a couple of weeks ago when I asked him where he'd slept the previous night."

"So, it's you three who have been protecting LA as long as we were gone," Dru said, "thank the Angel for Carrie."

"I do, every day," Reggie said nodding his head making Dru laugh and Alex roll his eyes with a smile. "Ah, case in point," he added as he looked off in the distance, "hey, Willie!"

Alex looked up, spotting him in the crowd as he came over to them. "Hey!" he said doing the necessary handshake with Reggie and kissing Alex's cheek. "I'd forgotten how many the Blackthorns actually are."

"The more the better," Dru said with a smile. "Willie! I haven't seen you at all since you became the Alpha, how are things? I hear you have a hot, new boyfriend."

"Okay," Alex said bending his head down to hide his blush.

Willie laughed his usual carefree laugh. Alex felt like it'd become even more genuine in the past month, ever since the whole situation with Caleb had been resolved. "I mean she's not lying," he said not helping Alex's blush. He was getting better at accepting compliments, really, but this was just coming out of nowhere, he hadn't been prepared.

"Dru!" they heard a voice and suddenly Luke had crushed into her, pulling her into a hug. "Hi!"

"Hey, Luke," she said amused, "and I'm guessing this is Julie?" She turned to Julie who followed behind not as energized as her boyfriend was.

"I am, hi," she said with a smile.

"Luke has told us a lot about you," she said.

"You're trying to embarass me, but she already knows I talk about her all the time," Luke told his sister with a smile, an arm slung over her shouders. I mean, how could he not?

"He also tends to exaggerate so you should take everything he told you down a notch," Julie told Dru.

"I do not!" Luke defended. Sure he got excited easily, but he had definitely not exaggerated about anything when talking about Julie, he didn't have to. "Come on," he said eagerly, taking her hand and pulling her with him. He had a big family and they didn't have as much time, sue him.

"You think now is the right time to meet everyone?" Julie asked him.

"Well you've already met Tavvy and Julian so that's already two people down. And Dru, three, Helen, Mark!" he called out to them cutting off their conversation and ran in to hug them too. "This is Julie!"

"Hi," Helen said giving her a warm smile.

"I know, we've already met," Mark said.

"Oh right, you and Cristina started from the New York Institute," Luke said having forgotten about it in the overall excitement to introduce Julie to everyone.

"I mean I was ten, I don't know if it really counts," Julie said with a chuckle. "Is Cristina here too? I didn't see her anywhere."

"She's back in Mexico for business, but she said she was going to try and make it. Maybe she'll show up in time," he gave an encouraging smile.

"Have you been dragging the poor girl around to meet everyone?" Helen asked Luke.

"It's not my fault there's like, a hundred of us," Luke said as he looked outside the crowd trying to spot Ty. He was standing a few feet away from everyone, talking with Kit and Julian. "Okay, last one, I promise," he said taking Julie with him again, away from everyone.

"Oh wow, I can breathe again," Julie said half jokingly half serious. "Aren't you going to announce your presence?" she asked amused as they approached the others. 

"Not this time," Luke said as they walked over. "Hey!" he said with just as much excitement standing next to Ty, his hand hovering just close enough to Ty's between them. With Luke being the embodiment of an over excited puppy - he was just going with everyone's descriptions by that point - hugging family and friends whenever they were close and Ty not liking being randomly touched by others, Luke always let it up to him. 

Ty smiled at him and pulled him in for a little hug which Luke returned. 

"This is Julie," Luke said as he pulled back. "Julie, Ty and Kit."

"Hey," Ty said with a little wave and Julie had just enough time to say hi back, before Kit talked.

"Can I just say," he started, "that this is the least Shadowhunter-ish thing that's ever happened in here and I absolutely love it?"

"See, this is why I like you!" Luke said pointing at him. "Kit believes Shadowhunters have a lot of limitations," he told Julie.

"Kit believes a healthy diet is a limitation," Julian said rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sorry, _dad_ , but I don't think eating a cookie two months ago is going to throw me off my Shadowhunter game," Kit said.

"It was last week and it was a whole box of cookies," Ty interjected. Julian looked at Kit with a raised eyebrow, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Don't look at me like that," Kit said pointing at Julian and then turned to Ty, "also I bribed you with a cookie so you wouldn't say anything."

"Sorry," Ty said, his lips quirking upwards, as he reached for Kit's hand in between them, Kit's face lighting up with a smile. Is that how Luke looked when he was with Julie? Judging from everyone's words he was probably worse.

"Oh, Luke, we should start getting ready," Julie suddenly said.

"You need help?" Julian asked.

"Sure," Julie said with a smile as they started walking back towards the crowd to gather Alex and Reggie as well.

"Hey, it's okay if you can't come you know," Luke told Ty, staying back for a bit.

"I'm coming, Luke, I just might not be standing in the first row cheering you on," Ty said giving him a small smile. Luke grinned.

"If you ever want to get mundanes involved just let me know because I'd love to be a part of it," Kit said almost conspiratorially. "Let's open up the Shadow World a bit."

"Aren't you both a little young to get locked up?" Ty asked looking in between them.

"A Blackthorn and a Herondale and you're expecting common sense?" Kit said with a laugh.

"That's... Yeah, that's fair," Ty said with a sigh. "You should go, you don't want to be late," he added to Luke.

"I'll see you over there," Luke said with a smile and ran back through everyone.

***

"I love you all so much, have I said that?" Luke asked practically jumping all around their makeshift stage.

"Today? About twenty two-" Reggie started to say.

"Twenty four!" Alex said while fixing something under his stool.

"Twenty four times," Reggie corrected it. "But we like it, it's fun, keep going." He smiled.

"I love you all so much," Luke said making Julie chuckle. "Okay, okay, band circle," he said gathering everyone around him.

"It's funny calling us a band now that it actually makes sense," Reggie said.

"We've come so far, I'm proud of us," Julie said still amused, but she actually meant it. They'd started off each one on their own and had ended up sounding pretty great.

"I just want to say that this has been a dream of mine ever since I was eight, so just... Thank you," Luke said sounding more sincere than ever.

"You don't have to thank us, dude, we like this," Alex said with a smile. "We're kind of good you know."

"Oh, we're far better than good," Luke said.

"Well, no matter what, Flynn and Carrie promised to cheer us on like there's no tomorrow so we're good," Reggie said smiling too.

The beach had started filling with people from the Institute, everyone ready to hear them play. 

"Are you ready?" Luke looked at them. Everybody nodded. "Okay, Julie, you introduce us."

"Are we sure about the name?" Julie hesitated.

"You're asking us now?" Alex said with an exasperated expression. Okay, that was her bad, she shouldn't have presented him with a dilemma right before the show.

"I just mean, Flynn came up with it and well, all her ideas started with 'Julie and...' because she says I deserve it, but I don't want you to come second when I'm the one who came second, do I make sense?" Julie said.

"Okay, Jules? If we didn't like it, we wouldn't have said yes," Luke said. "Also, Flynn is right, without you, there's no band."

Julie looked at him, contemplating if she should kiss him right there and then in front of everyone, but she didn't have to think about it for long because Luke leaned in and kissed her himself. She heard a 'woo' from the audience - Flynn - and chuckled when Luke pulled back. "We got this," he said.

They all took their places on the stage as the Institute finally emptied and Julie brought the microphone closer to her to introduce the band.

They'd ask everyone to help with the name because they really had no idea what to call themselves. Flynn had a lot of them. Nothing had really stuck, until Luke had wondered out loud what would happen if they just grabbed their instruments, portalled in Idris and started playing in the middle of the street, to which Alex had answered that they'd probably be ignored other than a couple of people who would stick around. Reggie had joked that they'd be able to understand how ghosts felt everytime they came across a Herondale.

Flynn had loved it.

"Hello!" Julie said into the microphone behind the piano, catching everyone's attention. "Hi," she said again, "thank you for coming. This has been about a month in the making and we're taking advantage of this beautiful moment when no one has to go on patrol. We don't know how long it's going to last so without further ado" - she placed the mic back on the stand - "we're Julie and the Phantoms."

"Tell your friends," Reggie said into his microphone.

Julie smiled as she passed her hands over the keys. They were really doing this.

_This is for you mom._

She started playing the intro.

_"Sometimes I think I'm falling down  
I wanna cry, I'm callin' out  
For one more try  
To feel alive  
And when I feel lost and alone  
I know that I can make it home  
Fight through the dark  
And find the spark..."_

Luke was looking at Julie singing his lyrics, mesmerized by the sound of her voice no matter how many times he got to hear it. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have met her. He couldn't believe he was actually playing in a band with her and the guys. Their band.

_"Life is a risk but I will take it  
Close my eyes and jump"_

Reggie had always found music comforting, even more playing the bass. When things got hard and when he felt alone he knew he had a place in the Institute where he could just sit with Luke and Alex and play and remember that yes, not everything's perfect, but he wasn't alone. He had two brothers who would do anything for him and he'd do anything for them.

_"Together I think that we can make it  
Come on let's run..."  
_

Alex looked over at the crowd spotting Willie beside Dru, looking at him with a smile. It was incredible to think that he could call this man his boyfriend when he usually wouldn't even dare to make the first move with someone. There he was though. Alex winked at him just as they started playing along with Julie.

_"And rise through the night you and I  
We will fight to shine together  
Bright forever  
And rise through the night you and I  
We will fight to shine together  
Bright forever"_

_"In times that I doubted myself  
I felt like I needed some help  
Stuck in my head  
With nothing left..."_

"He's really good." Emma turned to look at Julian beside her as she heard Luke sing.

"Good thing you didn't break his guitar," he said amused and she playfully pushed him away, not accomplishing much since his arm was around her waist.

_"I feel something around me now  
So unclear lifting me out  
I found the ground I'm marching on..." _

"I've heard him sing before, I mean the whole Institute has, but this is a whole new level," Dru said excited. "And Julie? That girl can _sing_!"

"And you know, the drumming is really good," Willie added.

"Of course it is." Dru shook her head with a smile.

_"Life is a risk but we will take it  
Close my eyes and jump  
Together I think that we can make it  
Come on let's run..."_

Ray couldn't deny that he'd teared up a bit. Hearing Julie playing the piano and sing again... He could feel Rose's presence around. He could feel Julie's happiness again.

"This is amazing," Carlos said. "Almost making me wanna learn an instrument."

Ray smiled at him. "I don't see why not, mijo."

"Luke will be thrilled," Tavvy said with a smile on Carlos' other side.

"I think I like the bass, Reggie looks really cool," he said.

"You should tell him that," Tavvy said.

_"And rise through the night you and I  
We will fight to shine together  
Bright forever  
And rise through the night you and I  
We will fight to shine together  
Bright forever"  
_

Flynn cheered them on loudly. She hadn't seen Julie this happy in a long time. Just one more reason why the Los Angeles Institute had been a great choice on her part for their travel year.

"How great of a name is Julie and the Phantoms?" she said.

"It was pretty smart," Carrie said with a smile, her arm over Flynn's shoulders.

"We could totally be their managers," Flynn said taking hold of her hand next to her face. "If it wasn't for us putting them on a schedule, there'd be no concert today."

Carrie chuckled. "Sure, but we'd have to cut training time in half or something."

"Ooh no, I didn't think of that, I like my knives..." Flynn said. "It's okay, we'll figure something out, we're keeping this band alive for as long as we can," she said.

"Sounds like fun," Carrie said as she leaned in and kissed her cheek.

_"In times that I doubted myself  
I felt like I needed some help  
Stuck in my head  
With nothing left..."_

Julie walked over to Luke with the mic on her hand, turning it to his direction so he could finish the last part of his verse while walking around with her. He didn't leave her side as she took over.

_"And when I feel lost and alone  
I know that I can make it home  
Fight through the dark, and find the spark..."_

"They're really good."

"I know, right?" Kit turned around excited and almost fell backwards, clutching his chest. "Jesus, you can't scare me like that!"

Ty looked at him confused, but then realization settled on his face upon seeing the empty space beside him. "Ghost?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kit said.

"Scaring you is one of the few things I can do whenever I'm around. It's fun," Bobby said.

"Well, it's not appreciated," Kit said, but his voice grew softer. "You want me to tell the guys you were here?"

Bobby was still looking at the stage, smiling. Kit already knew his answer was going to be the same as the few other times he'd come across him, but he still asked.

"No," he said, "they're okay. Better than okay and so am I. No need to confuse things any further."

Kit nodded. "You're staying fot the show?"

"I didn't materialize all the way here to leave after one song," he said with a smile. "And I didn't come alone either."

Kit followed his line of sight, seeing a woman with the same dark curly hair as Julie, standing further ahead next to Julie's dad. He didn't know, but he didn't ask. He wasn't going to give the ghosts a curfew. If they were there, they definitely had a reason.

_"And rise through the night you and I  
We will fight to shine together  
Shine together  
Bright forever  
Bright forever"_

Julie moved on to the last chorus, giving it everything she had. This was a one in a lifetime experience and she was definitely going to make the most of it. She turned around looking at all the boys around her. They understood. They felt it too. Maybe this wasn't going to be an everyday thing, but it was definitely a thing. 

They were a band.

_"And rise through the night you and I_   
_We will fight to shine together_   
_Shine together_   
_Bright forever_   
_Bright forever!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone so much for reading, giving kudos and/or commenting!! I really hope you enjoyed the story :)  
> I will be posting a few more things in this series so if you're interested in this little universe, stay tuned :D


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